What Colors to Choose for the Garden

Here is the little garden by the hot driveway in 2009. A jumble of colors. Here's what it looked like a couple of years ago. Experimenting.

Another view from a few years ago.Trying to get it right.

These are the orange lilies that are in so many places in our yard.

This is from a couple of years ago. It was just after my big purple asters stopped blooming.

Here are the lilies...hot, hot, colors. I moved the stellas out by the mailbox.


Many of us are in the process of planning our gardens for this coming year. We learn from year to year what we like and what we will never plant again. Some of us prefer gardens where the colors "go together" while others think that any color flowers will get along just fine. Perennials are most often chosen for their flower color. We tend to see the color first. Color conveys our feelings. Pastels are often used in the spring. I usually try to plant some flowers that will look good all through the seasons. Gold, russet and orange speak to us of autumn, so I add a few of these so that my gardens look fallish. Certain colors recede making a small space appear larger while other colors advance toward you making a large space appear smaller. Color is also classified by temperature. Warm and cool are the most common ways of dividing color. Blues, purples, violet, are cool colors. Red, yellow, and orange are hot colors. White and green are neutral. My little cottage garden is in the front of the house and right next to a hot driveway. I plant a mixture of cool and warm colored flowers. I like to have some flowers that my hubby likes.... Orange marigolds and some bright orange lilies. I didn't remember the color of the lilies, when I ordered rose bushes. Knockouts in pink. I plant white marigolds.... We are both happy. I have noticed that in the evening the warmer colors stand out as do white ones. Cool colors contrast well. We will need to place blue tones against a light, contrasting background. Cool colors are lost in low light or when viewed from a distance. Cool colors work very well in small, courtyard type gardens. Here you have a defined, close quarters space. Cool colors can make it appear larger and since viewing is close-up, they aren't lost in the distance. I happen to like the combination of blue and yellow or blue and orange, but then there are those knockout roses to contend with. I may do a garden in the back in those color combinations. My purple aster is on the corner of this small garden. It starts out small, but by the time it is ready to bloom...wow it is a show stopper. I have received more questions from people passing by as to what it is... and some say it's beautiful. I will try to work around this purple plant and the deep pink knockouts. I guess you could say that I think all colors can work well together...given enough space.
Balisha