Color scheme gardens are for those of us that dream in color or just are
madly in love with certain colors. If
you want to try something different in your garden, try planning a color scheme
garden.
What color is your house? Do you
have some architectural element that you’d like to incorporate in the
garden? These are some things to think
about when planning your color garden. Painting your lawn chairs to complement your color garden and using containers
in those colors around the patio can also bump up your color choice.
Do you need a new birdbath this year?
Think about buying one that is glazed in a bright color. I have one that is cobalt blue in one of my
gardens.
Flowers come in a kaleidoscope of colors and once you’ve chosen a color
it’s easy to find many plants that will fit your bill no matter what color
you’re in love with. Now in the dead of winter is time
to study the plant catalogs and send away for seeds and plants in your favorite
palette. If you are looking for
particular colors and cultivars, ordering them from catalogs is probably smart
because your local nursery has only so much space and since they can’t read
your mind, they might not order the colors you’re dreaming of.
Later, when spring is upon us, you can take a stroll through the nursery
and grab whatever you can find that will complement the choices you’ve made in
February.
Not all color gardens are planned.
Some happen by accident. Since blue is my favorite color, I tend to
gravitate toward anything blue. After several years of buying anything blue I
have quite by accident created a blue garden. That’s probably true for all of
us so don’t be afraid to trust your instincts.
If you’re not sure this works, just take a peak in your closet. How many times have you bought the same color
in a sweater or a top? It works better
in the garden though because the garden can wear more than one plant at a time.
Garden designers could probably design a spectacular garden for you, but
Mother Nature has a way of designing gorgeous gardens, and sometimes with some
wonderful, serendipitous surprises thrown in.
Mother Nature is much more economical, too!
Here are a couple of tips though that may help you design your own color
garden. Don’t plant things all alone;
plant in clusters of three or five for greater impact. Think in terms of waves or drifts of color.
Take a look at a color wheel, too, or visit your local hardware store
and pick up some paint samples. Not every plant has to be the same hue. You could plant coordinating colors or choose
some color combinations that would make the chosen color pop.
Two combinations I love are blue (or purple) with a pop of bright orange or for
something a little subtler think blue and lemon yellow. I have a friend who loves pink. Her goal for this summer is to design a pink
garden. I’m planning on helping her, and I think using some white in the garden
will make her pink look even pinker.
Another tip for your garden is to layer it. Start with an architectural element perhaps
and layer downward from there, or start with evergreens, then bushes, then
plants, and finally groundcovers. This
doesn’t have to be strict though. A tall
delphinium, or foxglove or an oriental lily that pops up between shorter plants
is a welcome focus for your eye.
You can also layer the garden with flowering vines. A shepherd’s hook full of wave petunias would certainly add
color to a small space, as would an arbor or trellis covered with old fashioned
roses.
Don’t just plant for the flowers either.
Think about the texture, shape and colors of the foliage on your
plants. Hostas, (which by the way come
in hundreds of varieties), artemesia, ferns, and grasses can add a lot of color
to your gardens. Remember green is a color, too and
there are countless shades of it.
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