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Articles - Colour
Colour in the Garden
Globe and Mail,
June 8th 2002
By Marjorie Harris
Colour in the garden is one of the elements that protects us from this rackety world we live in. Once among plants, surrounded by colour, you automatically feel better. Healing and colour in the garden just automatically go together.
Colour is a hot topic right now. Not just because it's a complex subject and we know very little about it but because we are barely beginning to understand just how significant colour is in our lives. Gardeners have always known instinctively that certain colours will change a mood or make us behave slightly differently, though we aren't quite sure why. For instance the softer greens make one feel more relaxed, the brighter hues of red and yellow more energetic. Just how colour stimulates the brain to elicit these responses is not yet perfectly understood.
In the meantime it's fun to experiment with colours at ground level and it's not as expensive as changing the chintz in the living room. There is one major caveat: don't have a lot of different colours dotted about thoughtlessly. The eye moves restlessly over the landscape rather than relishing the scene. Gentle drifts of colour can, however, get the same eye to stop and revel in sheer beauty.
Just as it's a difficult colour to wear, pure red in the garden is hard to place. True reds are so saturated they turn almost black at a distance and practically disappear in twilight. But I like the bracing quality it contains. Expose me to any hue of red and I want to jump for joy. So as an alternative I like to concentrate on those reds with lots of blue in them by putting a few different plants with the same tones together in small groups. To me they are way stronger and more exciting than pink. It's possible to create a drift of vibrant colour without having it bang you over the head with a visual club (I do have to control my instincts for the all-magenta border).
The plant picks here provide a variety of leaf textures and foliage tones as background to their blooms, they come out at different, though overlapping, times and are in varying heights. These are all principles you want to keep in mind when planning any drift of colour (which can be three plants or twenty three plants depending the space available).
A strong colour will give almost any border a real lift-just the thing to raise the centre of a border or create a dramatic presence at one end to act as an anchor. By choosing a variety of plants with the same hues in their blooms you can get a dramatic effect as well as expanding your plant repertoire. These three are in the red to plum range. This makes them adaptable companions with silvers, burgundy, blue and purple. Place these plants close to a sitting area or in larger containers. They need to be seen up close and they all need full sun.
PLANT PICKS
Coreopsis rosea 'Sweet Dreams', 30 to 60 cm high depending on the quality of the soil and how much sun it gets. What I like about this plant is that it blooms for the whole summer and, with some deadheading, right into autumn. The little daisy-like flowers start off a creamy white with a red eye. The clumps have ferny foliage which will contrast attractively with the other suggestions. Last year I tried C. R. 'Limerock Ruby' and it's another strong but tough contender with a striking magenta bloom. I've found this a real beauty and does well even in a partly shady garden.
Verbascum 'Summer Sorbet' is a mullein of singular beauty. It has candelabra bloom that lasts for weeks in purpley magenta. This one looks particularly good in a nest of silver plants such as artemisias or stachys (lambs ears). It grows to 45 to 60 cm high and starts blooming in late spring right through the summer even with no deadheading. It comes from a glossy green rosette and attracts hummingbirds.
Echinacea purpurea 'Ruby Star' (aka 'Rubinstern') is a variation of the traditional coneflower again with an almost magenta touch to the bloom. The prominent brown cone dries up to create strong winter interest so don't whack it back in late fall. The stiff deep green leaves always look good to my eye and this colour is fantastic. It grows to 90 to 100 cm and starts its bloom in late summer.
If you don't have much sun in your garden you probably won't be able to introduce many red perennials. But don't forget red foliage: Japanese maples such as Acer palmatum 'Shindeshojo' and A. P. 'Red Dragon' have such intense red leaves they light up like fire and are superb substitutes.
Copyright Marjorie Harris, 2005
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