When it comes to colour in the garden lots of us tend to focus our attention on flowers and foliage. It’s the obvious choice. But, beyond their own colour, the thing that makes leaves and blooms really shine is the background they are placed against and the objects that surround them. We’re not all blessed with beautiful Cotswold stone walls, corten steel screens or fabulous views into the surrounding landscape, but it is possible to create drama, romance or serenity simply by choosing paint colours, structures and objects that truly show off our plants.
Colour from the landscape
The colour choices we make in our gardens have the capacity to tie the space into the surrounding environment orplants to complement those hues? If red bricks dominate then either bring that colour into the garden in the form of foliage, flowers and hard landscape or complement with its opposite colour – rich green. Or, if the surrounding buildings are buff, beige and orange why not use them as a backdrop to complement blue and silver foliage on your plot? Alternatively, if you are gardening in the countryside and surrounded by fields and trees you could complement or replicate those tones in your garden. This idea is based on the Japanese principle of ‘borrowed landscape’, where plants, forms and colours pull in and borrow from the surrounding landscape. It’s a sneaky way of making your garden feel bigger, too.
