True colours

As the weather begins to brighten and temperatures rise, now is the time to start thinking about colour, says Elly West, who shares her top tips on how to achieve the perfect pallette...

One of the many pleasures of gardening is the opportunity to experiment with colour, and to enjoy the countless combinations that occur. Sometimes these are carefully planned, such as Vita Sackville-West’s white garden at Sissinghurst, full of whites, creams and greens, or the more vibrant ‘hot borders’ at Hidcote, but I also love the surprises that spring up in nature, such as the medley of colour in a summer meadow, or something self-seeded in the perfect spot in the garden. With the weather starting to warm up and the garden springing back into life, now is a good time of year to assess your borders and think about colour, and to make some deliberate choices about what to include and exclude.

It might just mean moving some plants around, or restocking a whole border, but a bit of planning and perhaps limiting the palette can make all the difference to the overall feel and style of your garden, and whether it has harmony or discord.

In terms of our senses, colour is perceived immediately and directly, with the power to affect our mood, so what we choose to grow in our garden can have a huge impact on our enjoyment of a space. It’s also a chance to personalise your plot so don't be afraid to experiment.

Looking at a colour wheel is a good place to start. Sir Isaac Newton created the first known circular diagram of colours in 1666, with seven main colours to fit in with the colours of the rainbow. A modern colour wheel groups colours into three categories, primary, secondary and tertiary. The three primary colours are red, blue and yellow. These are unique as they can't be produced by mixing other colours. The secondary colours are those that sit between the primary colours: orange, purple and green. Mix a secondary and a primary colour together and you get the tertiary colours, eg. blue-green or red-violet. One side of the wheel then has warm colours (reds, oranges and yellows) while the other has the cool colours (blues, greens and purples).

Harmonious colours are those that are similar and sit next to each other on a colour wheel. Blues, purples and pinks will create a beautifully calming colour scheme with a soft ‘modern-cottage’ feel, while vibrant oranges, reds and magentas together are invigorating and intense, but still harmonious. Complementary colours are opposite each other on the wheel, such as blue and orange, yellow and purple, or green and red. These can create some of the most striking of colour combinations with one making the other ‘pop’ in contrast. As the artist Marc Chagall said: “All colours are the friends of their neighbours and the lovers of their opposites.”

Then of course there are paler and darker shades of each colour as you add white or black, making as many as the 17 million colours that are thought to exist. And having just this week been to choose paint from a colour mixing range, and been overwhelmed by the numerous options, I can just about verify that number. The Royal Horticultural Society has also put together a colour chart, first published in 1966, as a way of standardising and recording plant colours. This has since been used extensively by growers, horticulturists and registration authorities to identify and describe plant colours precisely. This chart has 920 colours with unique letter codes and numbers, as well as a name, and the colours are all based on the natural world, so can be matched to flowers, fruits and other plant parts.

Light also plays a big part in how colours look in the garden. Reds have the longest wavelength, looking best in bright sunlight, and maintaining impact and visibility over a long distance. Blues on the other hand have the shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum, and readily blend into the background as you move further away, particularly darker blues. Whites and yellows brighten dark corners, and can be seen for longer in the evenings as the light fades.

Sticking to a colour scheme makes it easier to create a successful design. A good starting point is to find images in a magazine or on the internet, or even a piece of artwork that you like and create a mood board of plants, borders and colours. Take it with you when you’re plant shopping as it's easy to be distracted once you're there. Any given colour palette will change through the seasons as well. Vibrant yellow daffodils may work in spring alongside red tulips and blue muscari, when a fresh burst of primary-coloured zing is welcome, while your summer palette could be more harmonious pinks and purples, giving way to russet browns, whites, pale beige and orange in autumn and winter. The colour of a fence can also make a difference to how your plants look. Painting fences dark grey or black is a good trick to make the colours of your plants really stand out. A dark green yew hedge is also a perfect foil for most plants.

Generally speaking, strong, bright colours will create excitement and vibrancy while pastels and muted colours will bring a sense of relaxation. Greens and whites are cool and sophisticated, and perhaps the ultimate in simplicity and calm.

Creating a border can be like painting with plants but more fun, as your palette is ever-changing depending on the light, weather and the time of day. Plants present their colours in different ways as they grow; flowers open and fade, giving way to pale seedheads or vibrant berries. Leaves that unfurl fresh green in spring may turn red and golden in autumn. Their diversity of form is also unlimited. A blowsy pink dahlia will have a different impact to tiny sprays of pink dianthus. Nature presents us with an almost unlimited spectrum to play with, so have fun trying things out and see what happens. n

• ellyswellies.co.uk

Plant of the Month: Cornus

Complementary colours red and green are seen at their best as the new leaves of Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ emerge against the vivid winter stems. Cornus, otherwise known as dogwood, is grown mainly for its colourful winter stems, in firework shades of red, orange, green and yellow. These deciduous shrubs are good planted in groups with early spring bulbs, or as fillers in a border. They aren’t particularly exciting in summer, but have good autumn colour and come into their own once the leaves have dropped and their colourful stems are revealed. Plants prefer moist soil and some sun. Coppicing produces the best winter colour –cut all the stems back to ground level in early spring at around 5cm from the ground. The new stems will then spring up from a permanent low framework. ‘Elegantissima’ has attractive green and silver-white variegated leaves and red stems, while ‘Midwinter Fire’ has unusual red, orange and yellow multi-toned stems.