Back to basics: using color
31 Jan, 2008 By: Landscape Management Staff LDB SolutionsThere are so many great color choices available that it's easy for landscape designers to end up with a hodgepodge of colors or, afraid to make a mistake, just stick with something they've tried before.
 A row of humble daylilies is an effective way to add curb appeal. Notice how the eye is drawn away from the road and along the length of the driveway. |
Many successful designs acheive beauty through simplicity. We’ve all heard the saying “less is more,” and this same principle is equally effective in the landscape as dramatic, cohesive and elegant landscapes often rely on the various hues of just one color. Some are virtually all green, or include only white and blue accents. A simple theme helps to maintain focus. The variety of shapes and textures of the plant materials provide visual interest.
 A well proportioned urn or a brightly colored glazed container will create memorable, easy care focal points in any garden. |
Using different perennials in the same color family will pull a landscape together. It’s also an inexpensive way to add curb appeal. Tying a landscape’s color scheme in with the trim on the house will add extra impact, as will co-ordinating the plantings in hanging baskets, containers and window boxes as well as tucking a few of the same plants among the evergreens and woody ornamentals in the garden. Long blooming, economical perennials such as coneflowers, coreopsis and sedums work well for this application.
Color can be introduced in landscape details as well. A well-proportioned urn or a brightly colored glazed container can be used to create a focal point in a garden. Talk about low maintenance — it doesn’t even need to be filled with plants, since its form and color are enough to carry the design, particularly if the surrounding plantings include echoes of the same color.
 A narrow bed along a well-used walkway is mass planted with ground hugging perennial geraniums interplanted with brilliant red ‘Couleur Cardinal’ tulips for early season interest. |
Color need not come from flowers. Other plants can fill in. By including interesting foliage plants, landscapes can exhibit seasonal colors without having a single flower in bloom. Hosta and coral bells (Heuchera) offer a wide array of colors. Heuchera ‘Marmalade’ (orange) and ‘Lime Ricky’ (lime green) will brighten up a shady corner and they work beautifully in containers as well.
Hot reds, pinks, yellows and oranges look best in a sunny garden. Pastel shades of pink, green, blue and violet seem to fade when they are out in the hot summer sun, however, they glow when grown in dappled sunlight or afternoon shade. Keep in mind that hot colors stimulate, energize and appear to come forward, while cool colors, relax, soothe, refresh and appear to recede.
Use mass plantings for strong appeal in the garden. Blocks of one plant show up much better than spots of color from a collection of plants, particularly when they are seen from afar. Surprisingly, the same strategy works to unify a smaller space as well. Where space allows, consider planting an entire flat, rather than the conventional three to five plants, in a grouping. In large scale plantings, several flats of one plant can be used to really make a statement.
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