Be Bold with Color

Foliage color is a fine way to introduce variation in all seasons; so consider the addition of variegated foliage, purple tinted leaves, golden and some of the other types of leaf or needle color. Flowers, combined for bold contrasts or subtle harmonies, are the glory of three of our four seasons.

Ways to Introduce Color Into Your Garden

Everyone thinks of spring and summer for color in the garden… but who plans their fall garden for bursts of color? And most of us decide that we need flowers to brighten up the garden views, but who puts colorful foliage plants first on their list? Or brings berried trees and shrubs for winter beauty?

The smart gardener like you, that’s who!

During autumn, foliage becomes the primary focus. Sometimes in surprising places such as the gold of hosta or Convallaria majalis.

Leafy contributions most commonly thought of are Autumn changes, but other seasons have their fair share of gold, purple, chartreuse, and even pink and red tints. Conifers come in different shades for winter, even twigs may add some color to the garden landscape, whether bright green, yellow, or coral red.

 

 

Great Plants for Foliage Color

Entryway Accents

Whether it is the large swathe of a perennial border or a small addition of containers by the steps, flowers can deliver color in any hue you desire.

A group of flowers can bring a combination of colors to create moods of harmony, calm, or excitement.

There are certain places that most people like to have some color, and that is at the entry or closely surrounding the house.

Like the glint of a jeweled necklace framing a face, the colorful accent of garden color close to the home’s entry seems most pleasing to the owner and their visitors. Perhaps that is due to the idea that a special spot of color bids welcome and speaks of the anticipation of the hospitality within.

I don’t know if that is simply an idea we have cultivated with flower arrangements and houseplants or if that is something hardwired into the human psyche, but it seems to work in that mode.

“Bright plants or flowers do a lot to enhance the entry.

Think “yellow” when adding accent plants to your home’s entry. Yellow is a great color for this purpose. It draws the eye and makes people feel at ease, which is exactly how you want them to feel when entering your home.”

– Home Staging

Strong Contrast

Because of the possibility of combining different types of foliage, purple and gold plants together are a popular combination. Too much of this constitutes what I call “a garden no-no”. It looks harsh and unnatural to the point of being annoying.

So you like hot pink, leopard prints, red heels, and dangling chandelier earrings all at once? Yes, and some people like the garden equivalent. It is your garden, after all, but most of us viewing it don’t like such strong color contrasts en masse as well as you, in that case.

There are always those case which break the rule, so I rarely make hard and fast ones for the look of a garden; there are people who have an unfailing artistic sense who can create even the most garish elements into something appealing.

Employ Shape, Color, Contrast, and Texture

Distinctive shapes highlight the interesting range of leaf color in a front entry.

Combos I Love

• I love a touch of contrast, a golden accent here, a grove of purple-leaved trees there, a large amount of gray foliage and purple foliage with grays.
• I like the combination of golden and glaucous foliage- “glaucous” being the blue effect that some leaves have.
• I like purple foliage combined with red and bright orange flowers for a “wow” effect in a sunny spot. Quite amazing color effects can be done done with either only leaves or leaves and flowers in this pairing.
• Try some of your most adventurous ideas in containers- they last for the one season and if you love the effect you can use it on a grander scale at a future date. If not, it was fun to see your idea for a time and to change it up the next year.

 

Color Can Be Bold

Try two or three plants of the same kind to give a bold splash of foliage color in a garden.

Golden Foliage Plants

Caryopteris Variety

Goldflame spirea

Take, for instance, the Goldflame spirea. The original form of this spirea shrub is very nondescript (although I like it). It has pretty pink flowers in season, but the rest of the time is a fairly dull green plant with small leaves.

In its ‘Goldflame’ form the spring leaves start out with a range of dawn colors of pink, reddish tinge, and pale gold, become a deeper golden color for summer and turn tints of yellow, pink, and orange for fall…while the bright pink flowers will bloom in their season, as well. It grows best in part sun/part shade where its colors is most welcome, and the contrast with green leaved plantings becomes a brilliant spot of color even when nothing is blooming.

 

Two Gold Leaf Beauties

Smoke Tree – Interest through foliage and bloom

Coggyria is an ornamental tree with varieties that include strongly colored leaves in gold or purple tones. Its name comes form the frothy look of the flowering parts; they look like a cloud of softly color smoke. It is a very interesting addition to the landscape.

Purple Foliage Plants

Berberis thunbergii var. Atropurpurea

Berberis thunbergii var. Atropurpurea brings contrast into the spring palette.

Purple Berberis foliage is very popular. It is tough and comes in a variety of cultivars. It takes hedging exceptionally well. A drawback is the fact that it is sometimes considered an invasive non-native shrub.

 

 

Color Can Be Subtle

Variegated plants are those with color variations along with the usual green: green and gold, green and cream, pink, green and gray. When introduced into a mostly green backdrop they provide a lift to the whole picture.

Many plants have variegated mutations. Some I really like are the large shrub Cornus elegantissima, variegated hollies, and the many types of hostas with beautiful gold or cream streaking the green or bluish-cast leaf color.

Where do subtle effects go wrong? When too bland and lacking in personality, the beauty of a plant can be lost.

Color Through The Seasons

Autumnal Hues

Plan for an autumn garden with spectacular color. Plants take on a whole new look when the first cold temperatures of fall touch their leaves. What flower can compete with the golden, scarlet and glowing orange hues of the trees in their autumn garb?

Don’t let your garden be dowdy when the October fling of festivity comes around. Any other time of year such competition seems gaudy, but not in the fall! Choose some of your shrubs and even perennials for their end of season tints.

Some trees are grown only for the beautiful leaf colors they turn in the fall. Look for those to brighten your yard. Note in a journal the plants that have beautiful fall color like hostas and balloon flowers, then combine them to good effect for this season’s show.

The golden autumn leaf color of the Ginko tree in the photo at the beginning of this section is a wonderful example of autumn leaf color at its finest.

The fall color of the Gingko biloba tree is a golden clear yellow. Choosing such trees and shrubs give the autumn a richness that shimmers against the clear blue skies and surprises the eye after the summer of green background.

 

Great Accents Or Garden No-Nos?

Strong visual impact can come from the often brassy or moody shades of foliage variation. Or the patterns of variegated leaves in the landscape can either be a focal point or become too much of a good thing when dotted throughout a garden space or massed together in a mish-mashed, unidentifiable collection.

 

Winter

Winter berries bring much needed color to the landscape and stand out all the more. Additionally they attract birds.

Don’t overlook berries or fruits as colorful additions to your garden plan.

Witch Hazel Early Blooms

Shrubs which bloom quite early with the added bonus of fragrance. [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],

Remember These Sources Of Landscape Interest

1. Leaf ColorWhether it is the autumn color or foliage variations…remember to use leaves to create a great color show in your landscape.</p
2. Flowers In Your PlantingsAnnual and perennials flowers, yes, but remember trees, vines, shrubs, and ground covers may all have bright beautiful flowers during three (in some places four) seasons of the year.</p
3. BerriesBerries are king in winter, and they give color and a wildlife food source. Often overlooked when planning garden plantings, but one of the secrets of a really great garden. Remember to plan for colorful berries, they can be red, but also yellow, orange, even blue or purple.

Bravely Paint Your Garden Using Color Theory

Painting With Plants

Using color in your garden is much like creating a painting, with easy to learn concepts of color harmonies as the basis for making a gardens that gives visual joy to all who see it.

Find ideas on creating all season beauty in your yard, and keep reading for a primer in color theory for the garden, all included in this page.

Rainbow spectrum or a carefully chosen palette, flowers are a main source of instant impact. They reign in spring and summer seasons. Leaves and stems will also hold their own with both bold and subtle effects.

The Nature Of Color

Monet Was a Master of Garden Color Effect
Monet’s garden at Giverny is a revelation. It was a master’s use of plantings that gave him inspiration for many of his most famous works. If you need color inspiration ideas, take a tour of his paintings.

Color theory for the garden

Here is just a little about color to get you started, learning more about color theory is one of the best ways to improve your design sense for inside AND outside the house.

Warm colors are red, orange, yellow.

Cool colors are blue, purple, green.

Color Harmonies:

Complementary colors: opposites on the color wheel

Analogous color scheme: colors that are next to each other.

Monochromatic colors: colors all in the same family; i.e. all blues.

Triadic Color: three colors evenly spaced on a color wheel.

More on Color Theory and its use in the garden:

All About Garden Color

Color Theory

Fearless Color Gardens: The Creative Gardener’s Guide to Jumping Off the Color Wheel

Gain confidence in your use of color, learn from the experts. Nothing has helped me more in imagining plans and creating beautiful planting arrangements than books that hold advice from widely respected designers. It is all the better when photos of actual gardens inspire the process of putting together plants that bloom well, and at the same time.

Sometimes we are too timid, fearing that colors will clash or we don’t know whether something we are planning will work. Allow garden artist Keeyla Meadows to entice and inspire you to go beyond the ordinary.

Flower Power – Any Color of the Rainbow

Take Cues From Your Favorite Things

Think about your own ideas of color and how those from your environment or even your wardrobe could cue the design of some color additions to your yard for landscape interest and visual pleasure. There is something to be said for those small joys of the day, such as looking out the window to see a picture of something colorful and bright.

Monochromatic Designs

Color mutations and varigation of leaves are loved by gardeners for good reason. Golden leaves or purple ones create a new way to add color that lasts much longer than a plants blooms. They may have seasonal variations as well. The solid forms don’t have the spotty, too-busy look that variegated leaf plants may contribute to a view.

This type of plan requires self-discipline, with only one color chosen to create the look. Often used in plantings of conifers or one color gardens that rely on flowers for their main source of color.

Example of a Complementary Scheme

Strong complimentary hues of the same saturation bring excitement wherever they are placed. Just don’t overdo it.

Powerful Opposites

Purple and Yellow Complementary Colors

Hues speak messages to us- depending on our experience and culture, but also sometimes by the effect on our physiology.

Color can be calming or exciting, it can whet our appetite or soothe our irritability. Consider this when designing a garden for yourself.

Monet’s garden at Giverny is a revelation. It was a master’s use of plantings that gave him inspiration for many of his most famous works. If you need color inspiration ideas, take a tour of his paintings.

Garden Color Tips – Choose Color Like a Pro

• Warm colors, red, orange, yellow stand out and draw the eye; cool colors, blue, purple, green, tend to recede into the background.
• Gray foliage is a great mixer- use it to separate colors that don’t look good together.
• Too much contrast is not a good thing, choose your contrasting effects wisely, and use them sparsely.
• Strong contrast can make a statement, so at times it is good to go bold. But remember the previous caveat: don’t overwhelm your garden with too much contrast, but don’t be so afraid that your garden becomes boring. You can always move plants around, or even take them out altogether.

Don’t Use The Most Garish Color

…that you can find, or combine the most contrasting colors available unless it is small doses. Instead, why not have less color but more change in texture? Coarse large leaf plants combined with small fine-leaved ones?

A serene garden is almost always done in soft pastels or shades of green and white, while hot color gardens create a feeling of convivial cheerfulness.

What do you wish to be surrounded by? Don’t allow your yard to be simply a backdrop, but make it into your preferred environment with the use of color.

Hidcote, the Quintessential All Season Garden

Many examples of masterful use of flowers and foliage for beautiful pictures throughout the years may be seen in great gardens such as England’s Hidcote.