Color-coordinated gardening
Posted on June 25th, 2009 – 9:38 AMBy Connie Nelson
I never set out to have a color scheme in my garden. In fact, I wasn’t all that interested in flowers, let alone their colors. I grew plenty of plants that had flowers, but that wasn’t why I picked those plants. I was going for form, texture, contrasting foliage. But a funny thing happened along the way: I ended up with a pink and blue garden.
I just noticed it this year, when the pinks (azaleas, dianthus, prairie smoke and impatiens) started blooming. Then the blues (spiderwort, false blue indigo and cranesbill — Johnson’s blue, of course) followed. I was sitting on the porch, looking at my garden, thinking about weeding, when I realized that I had a color-coordinated garden. I was kind of shocked. I mean, I like blue and pink’s OK and together they look surprisingly nice. But I just never planned it that way. I was going toward one thing, my garden was growing toward another. Seems like my garden, wanting both color and order, came up with its own color scheme.
It’s already fading. Most of the pinks are gone and the blues are on their way out. Pretty soon it’ll be back to form, texture and contrasting foliage. My season of coordination will be gone. But it got me thinking about color in a way I never had.
So now I’ve got to ask: Do you color coordinate your garden or do you plant the plants you love and the devil take color? Did you plan your garden from scratch or did it just evolve? What colors would you like to add to your garden? And do you have that holiest of grail for many gardeners: season ’round color?
89 Responses to "Color-coordinated gardening"
I love pinks and blues, too. Bet your garden is just lovely. This color issue really interests me. I have an established garden and went willy nilly planting annuals at whim in bare spots….I see now that hot spots of uncoordinated color confuse the eye in a way. You don’t really know where to look. Somewhere I read about the power of white and in containers I’ve seen for myself how white makes the rest really pop. Then I read advice about taking all the yellows out of the garden…have never done that (that would be tough for a high-summer garden) but I bet that would be an interesting experiment. You can tell total nitwit here but how much fun to play around with color. And then there’s leaf color and shape! Endless fun.
I got lucky with one garden, it is a mixture of pinky-purples, yellow and white. It is just coming alive now. I guess I need to do a little more research on year round color. Yay!
MNmom,
I’ve experimented with color in a few of my other gardens. I once tried an all-white garden. It was against a vine covered wall and it looked pretty cool . . .until my tree grew and shaded what had been a sunny garden and I had to start all over again.
I wonder why anyone would advise the removal of all things yellow. I don’t love it on its own, but it’s a great contrast to purple and red. Besides,you’re right MNmom, what would one do for color in mid-summer without yellow?
While I like the idea of color-coordinating, I couldn’t pass up a gorgeous plant just because it didn’t fit my color scheme. It’s more important to me that the plants can survive in my dense clay soil, and don’t require a lot of fussing.
I’ve been gradually color-coordinating - some of the previous owner’s perennials don’t fit my plans, and they’re going to disappear eventually. I have different color schemes for the front (lavender, orange & yellow) and back (purple, blue & pink), and then a small cutting garden on the side where anything goes. So I can fit most things in somewhere.
The rap against yellow was that it allegedly dampened the effect of white. The designer moved all her yellows to the other side of her garden and got a lot of compliments from people who couldn’t quite put their finger on why it was better. I like yellow with blue and purple. I have ladies mantle blooming with blue geranium. Also purple sage and yellow coreopsis. Have a friend who brings purple and orange bouquets. I would never think of that but they look lovely and wild and bohemian on a summer table.
I was buying dahlia bulbs for my mother and leaning to deep velvety maroon. She said “those won’t show up, you know, from a distance against green.” Never would have thought of that. But she was right.
I inherited all my flowering perennial plants, but if I ever get to the point of planning out a flower garden, I’m going for such a riotous blowout of shifting, mismatched colors that it’ll have to come with a warning sign:
“Contents of garden may cause epileptic seizures. Use of eye protection recommended.”
Good for you, Geoff! Sounds like my wardrobe!
I have two color coordinated gardens: One pink and white (roses, tulips, bleeding hearts, dianthus, geranium sanguenium, peonies, aster) the other is like Elsa’s: lavender, orange, and yellow. One shade garden is all foliage. One garden is all fragrant things (lavender, scented geraniums, roses, artemesia, hyssop) Two gardens that are all natives — regardless of color. I’m mostly covered on the year round color, but have a few spots where I need to fill in with mid-season things.
I went back to the serenity of a purple, pink and white garden this year. There are enough plants in those color schemes that I can vary the look by texture foliage and foliage of leaves.
For a little pop of color, I add in a little yellow with signet marigolds or ladybird cosmos. There is a bed in the backyard where I grow more reds and oranges. Sometimes too much red can look harsh in the landscape but purple can be the great equalizer!
Wow, purple as an equalizer? Who woulda thunk it?
Has anyone tried green-colored flowers? I was in love with Green Envy vinnias . . until I discovered you couldn’t see them in my garden.
I have hydrangeas that come in a beautiful green and then turn. I look down at them from a window so don’t care if they don’t show up from the street…which they probably don’t. They look great in vases, too, at the green stage. And there is a striking green coneflower I love in catalogs, but something ate it before it could bloom here… All these garden combinations bloggers describe sound wonderful.
Hey, have you seen this news article?
New details about Michael Jackson’s Death Emerge
I was wondering if you were going to blog about this…
I planned a “sunrise” garden - shading from red to orange to yellow to white - but didn’t consider WHEN things bloom. Fortunately, I do have a lot of variety in foliage, and enough mass of each to make it interesting even if there is no bloom.
Geoff - you sound a little like English gardener Christopher Lloyd - he was a great one for mixing up colors, the louder the clash, the better.
I didn’t set out to coordinate bloom color, but I’m starting to pay attention to it.
After the tulips are done, one bed is mostly blue and purple with a few white flowers and one red columbine. That columbine is facing eviction.
In the front boulevard, I’m beginning to dislike the clash of two yellow flowers that bloom at the same time. One of them is getting moved.
Yeah, I have different shades of pinks, purples, yellows, whites and different shades and colors of foliage. But I don’t allow reds, blue-blues, orange or peach to my gardens.
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Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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