Prepare for your seed sowing
Now’s a good time to experiment with combinations for your borders
Selecting plants to put in a border can be a daunting experience and knowing what to put next to each plant can be even more difficult. One of the easiest and most enjoyable options is to choose plants by colour, and if brightly coloured flowers float your boat don’t be frightened to use them! One word of warning, be careful how you place bright flowers as some colours can jar the eye, they could even be called gaudy.
Having said that, there’s no right or wrong when it comes to colour combinations. It’s a matter of opinion, something I learned many years ago when I was asked by the BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Geoff Hamilton to appear on a pilot programme. While filming he asked me to comment on what my thoughts were regarding the combination of a pink geranium next to an orange perennial (a geum I think). I didn’t like it but couldn’t explain why. Now I realise it was because the two colours were of different tones. The flowers of the geranium where mid-pink while the geum had vibrant orange. Sadly the show was never aired as Geoff died shortly after.
Colour tones are important. Pastel flowers such as soft pink and pale blue sit easily together as the tones are similar. Take this to the other extreme and place two rich Claire has been involved in horticulture since 1983. Over the years she has grown thousands of different perennials, including a large collection of irises and peonies. Aside from publishing four books, including this year’s Book of Perennials, she runs her own perennial nursery. www.claireaustinhardyplants.co.uk tones such as violet blue and vibrant yellow next to each other and an exciting combination is achieved. Many gardeners don’t like yellow flowers, but I find they brighten a border and you just can’t ignore them in autumn. I love violet asters but they can often looked faded. Site them next to a bright yellow rudbeckia or coreopsis and the border comes alive.
Apart from annual plants, summer in comparison to autumn offers fewer brightly coloured perennials. Achillea produce rich orange and bright red flowers which look good next to dark purple campanula or lupins. Many of the newer varieties of echinacea have amazingly coloured flowers. A happy accident occurred in our nursery beds when orange echinacea ‘Marmalade’ flowered next to the rich pink spikes of lythrum ‘Robert’. Certain brightly
coloured flowers can be difficult to place in a border, especially if they’re as big as those of bearded irises. I favour growing irises as a focal point, planting them in a position where the neighbouring plants bloom either before or after them.
Spring, on the other hand, offers lots of bright perennials, especially among geum. I adore the orange varieties and use them liberally around the garden. They look great with bright blue geraniums, but also with the orange flowers of Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’. Placing plants together that are the same in colour needs a little consideration.
If plants are similar in shape as well as colour the border will lack definition and your eye will just wash over it. To avoid this vary the flower and plant shapes by placing mounding plants next to those that produce spikes or sprays of flowers.