Garden Design That Doesn’t Limit Your Color Palette

Textural involvement and wraith of green may be the rage in sophisticated gardens , but I still crave the excitement of floral Technicolor . My personal garden challenge is to work in as many colorful flower as I can without overwhelming other elements or make ocular bedlam . To achieve this , I use a twosome of scheme : I plant in layers , using repeat colour patterns to make visual perspective , and I intermingle simmer down place for the eye to rest and geomorphological elements that operate as a neutral backdrop .

Our Montana valley garden sits within native cottonwood and aspen forests , to which my husband and I have tote up approximately 150 large coniferous tree . The tree visually link our garden to the large mountain view all around us , and with this strong backcloth , my bloom bed can get by with some supernumerary dramatic event . Even so , I want them to feel well compose . Here are some of my method for taming the flowered display .

Patterns keep bold colors from getting unruly

Especially at the height of summer , a bloom-filled , color-saturated garden could cause sensorial overload , even for me . To battle this tendency , I let in calm ing Mass of textural foliage and refreshing drifts of white in my garden bed . Sweet allyssum ( Lobularia maritima * ‘ Royal Carpet ’ , annual ) is a selfseeder that brighten the edges of course ; shasta daisies such as ‘ Becky ’ are good for adding a bigger splashing of white .

gnome conifers such as bird ’s nest spruce ( Picea abies‘Nidiformis ’ , Zones 3–7 , facing page ) meld big grain with a compendious habit , fitting in well with mound perennials and offer the eye a seat to perch amid the flower . green goddess such as ‘ Karl Foerster ’ feather reed grass ( Calamagrostis×acutiflora‘Karl Foerster ’ , Zones 5–9 ) add impersonal greenback while repeat the upright manikin of bloom bedmates .

Another way to lend persistence and guild without limit the variety of prime colors I can use is with repeating patterns . Grouping efflorescence with standardised size , shapes , and wont can aid to unite a scene , even if the blossom are different colors . Paying tending to ordered series helps too . Layers of short , medium , and marvelous plants flow through my beds , creating an enhanced sense of view . The visual speech rhythm of these layer echoes that of the lifelike land scape , helping to draw the garden into its surroundings .

Repeating blossom colors can also lend a feeling of continuity . For case , one of my pet color combinations — plenteous pink shuffle with dreary , lavender , and burst of gold — tends to turn up frequently in my designs . These strong chromaticity call out to each other from across the garden and stand out attractively against the dark , neutral pit and Ellen Price Wood colouring material of our household .

To help me decide if a color combining or com- lieu is working , I habituate a trick that I call my “ Monet strabismus test . ” Squinting at a section of garden until edges appear to blend together add a simplified view that is quite valuable when editing and upgrade garden beds .

When the finer item are confuse aside , it is easy to notice color geta , imbalances , and areas that need more structure or perpendicular layering . I may remark a fleck that needs some excess color , or a repeat color , or a stronger pattern . This intuitive coming works far better for me than follow rigid rule about what colour “ go together ” or which plants belong in the front , middle , or back of the borderline .

Structural plants tie it all together

My philosophy is that a landscape with appeal architectural sake in winter will also be delicious during the summer month . Therefore , structural flora make up approximately half of my garden plan .

wintertime is the best fourth dimension to look back how these geomorphological plants integrate and how they will provide a backdrop for spring and summertime flowers . It is also another time when the Monet strabismus examination comes in handy . Without the flush in the picture , it is easy to evaluate characteristics such as verticality and layering .

fuse coloured seasonal blooms with a more subtle palette of structural plants has helped contribute direction to my garden design . If you ’d like to try something similar , be playful , give attending to the colors that make your center let the cat out of the bag , and do n’t be afraid to be flower focused .

*Invasive alert:Sweet alyssum(Lobularia maritima)

This plant is considered invasive in CA .

Please visitinvasiveplantatlas.orgfor more info .

Kielian DeWitt garden 3,400 animal foot above sea level in Montana ’s Bitterroot Valley .

This article first appear inFine Gardening # 194as Put the Focus on Flowers

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Bright masses of blooms illuminate a four-season framework of trees, shrubs, and grasses in this two-acre Montana garden.Photo: Carol Collins

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Bright masses of blooms illuminate a four-season framework of trees, shrubs, and grasses in this two-acre Montana garden.Photo: Carol Collins

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Visual patterns tie this scene together.For example, the flowers of black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida‘Goldsturm’, Zones 3–9) and shasta daisy (Leucanthemum×superbum‘Becky’, Zones 5–9) form a trio with a similar-sized cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus‘Cupcakes Mix’, annual).Photo: Carol Collins

Color repetition imposes order.‘Blue Skywalker’ speedwell (Veronica‘Blue Skywalker’, Zones 4–8) picks up blue notes of Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia‘Blue Jean Baby’, Zones 4–9), tying these neighboring beds together.Photo: Carol Collins

Upright forms create a pattern. The verticality of ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass is echoed by the forms of hollyhocks (Alcea rosea‘Henry VIII’ and ‘Blacknight’, Zones 3–9) and clary sage (Salvia sclarea, Zones 5–9).

Masses of textural foliage have a balancing effect. Cool mounds of fescue (Festuca glauca‘Boulder Blue’, Zones 4–8), below, and the brilliant foliage of golden oregano (Origanum vulgare‘Aureum’, Zones 4–9) and ‘Kings Gold’ false cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera‘Kings Gold’; Zones 4–7), above, provide restful yet invigorating counterpoints to colorful blooms.Photo: Carol Collins