Few topics are as interesting to homeowners as color, and few things affect the overall look of a landscape as much as color. Used effectively, color can create a feeling of calm, graciousness, spaciousness, excitement, or just about any mood we want to achieve. Unfortunately, when determining color combinations, most of us learn by trial and error.
A color wheel can be helpful in selecting flowers that will give the best contrast or harmony. If you don't have a color wheel, you should be able to purchase one at an art supply or paint store. If you don't want to buy one, check out a book on color at your library. Also, professionally landscaped homes, public parks, botanical gardens, arboretums, and gardening magazines can give you ideas on effectively using color . . . but have your notebook with you.
Colors directly opposite one another on the color wheel; i.e. red & green, blue & orange, yellow & purple, will give the greatest contract. These opposites are called complimentary color. Contract diminishes as colors draw nearer to one another on the wheel. Adjacent colors, such as, yellow and orange give harmony to a particular area of the landscape. Some homeowners prefer to use variations of only one or two colors, such as, pink and white. Each landscape and the preferences of the homeowner are unique. By using basic color principles, you can develop as vibrant or as subtle a landscape as you want. Our friends at the National Garden Bureau offer these tips on color:
1. To brighten shady areas use light-colored annuals such as white, light pink, or palest blues. Dark colors tend to get "lost" in shady areas. You can still use deep colors in a shady area, but be sure to use lighter colors around or behind them to provide contrast so they can stand out and be seen. Burgundy impatiens surrounded by pale green coleus or coral impatiens, for example, will stand out due to the contract.
2. For maximum effect, think about how the colors of plants will blend or contrast with their surroundings. For example, deep red geraniums or red salvia planted against a red brick or redwood fence will not stand out as well as white or pink geraniums. And white will not stand out dramatically against a white fence or white siding. Think of using a more dramatic color scheme such as purple or magenta against a white or light-color background, and something lighter, such as, pink or peach against darker surfaces.
3. Just as interior decorators use three or four colors as a theme throughout a home, the exterior can be done the same. Theme colors used in repetition will unify different landscape areas just as they unify the rooms of the house. For example, bordering all your garden areas with a row of yellow marigolds or creamy petunias can tie areas together for a unified look. Repeating the same colors but in different plant types can crate the same effect. If white and blue are your colors, plant different types of flowers such as lavender, blue petunias and blue salvia, and for white use white geraniums, white impatiens, white petunias, to carry the theme, but vary the look.
4. Just as a room should have a focal point, so should areas of the landscape. If there isn't a natural focal point such as a pool or garden statuary, color can create one. Instead of long, uninterrupted rows of flowers, create a focal point by planting a mass of one color in the center of a bed, and then surround it with flowers or plants that contrast in color, texture, and height. One exception to rows is using yellow flowers to border steps or other areas where caution should be exercised. Note: Know the height of the plants you're purchasing. Tall plants should go in the back, low ones in the front.
5. Colors affect our emotions. Bright colors such as red and yellow excite us and can make us feel warm (that's why they are often called "hot" or "warm" colors). Colors such as blue, lavender, green, pink, and peach are considered cooler and calmer. For the entrance to your home, you may want to create a feeling of warmth and excitement, and could choose stronger, more exciting colors such as yellow marigolds and scarlet dianthus. In the backyard areas or for patio containers, you may want to create a more relaxing and serene mood by choosing cooler or softer colors such as pansy rose shades with blue violas.
The Lawn Institute, a not-for-profit organization started in 1955 for turf professionals, can be reached at www.turfgrasssod.org.