Using Colour

Why consider using colour in the garden at all – why not just plant whatever takes your fancy? It is true that very few combinations of flowers (apart, perhaps, from brightly coloured hybrid annuals), will clash too hideously, so why not simply mix them all together?

Just as we like to create different moods or styles in different parts of the house by putting together colour schemes with our own choice of fabrics and paints, so we can use colour to achieve a variety of atmospheres in the garden. There is a real satisfaction to he gained from a garden or border that looks to be designed rather than haphazardly thrown together.

Strong, bright colours excite the eye and create a sense of vibrancy but it is a mistake to combine them with less vibrant plants as they gain all the attention. Pastel and muted colours induce a relaxed and calm atmosphere; they an also be used in distant parts of the garden to give the hazy effect of even greater distance. The contrast of cool, shady areas of predominantly green and white with areas of sun-drenched oranges and purples, for example, will add immeasurably to the interest of the garden as a whole.

The size of your garden need not restrict you from experimenting with colour. Well-defined areas of colour that use several plants of one variety are easier to construct in a large garden, but the same ideas can be used on a reduced scale in smaller gardens by using single plants. The sheer intimacy of a small garden allows you to add tiny ingredients in the confidence that they will be seen. Small plants can be squeezed between larger ones thus heightening the affect of a combination. Try Scabiosa 'Chile Black' tucked between Artemisia 'Powis Castle' and Helictotrichon sempervirens. Container plantings can also be used effectively in the small garden to contrast or complement nearby border plantings in a small plot. A container planting of Begonia rex purple cultivars and Helichrysum petiolare next to a border of silvers and greys is particularly pleasing to the eye.

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