Flower Colour
Colour is one of the most subjective elements in garden design, and preferences have swung wildly since I entered the industry. There are lots of ways to make it work successfully, so I thought I’d outline some of the approaches I tend to take.
20 to 30 years ago white-flowering plants were all the rage… possibly with a bit of purple for contrast… MAYBE bit of pink if you’re going absolutely crazy. This brings about a sense of cohesion to a garden that a lot of people love. Another bonus is that most plant species seem to have a white-flowering cultivar available. Unfortunately, white flowers tend to brown-off as they are dying. A bit of ‘dead-heading’ with the secateurs fixes this problem but it does take a bit of time.
Image: Duty pinks are a feature of this cottage garden in Trentham, Victoria
Colour doesn’t always have to be used in this restrictive way; I sometimes use a kind of ‘tutti-frutti’ approach where all the colours of the rainbow are used. I find this only works well in schemes where there are lots and lots of flowers, usually from perennial plants. Otherwise, it can look unconvincing and disorganised.
Pastel colours like light pink, lilac and light blue tend to have a more restful, nostalgic feeling; these colours were popular in the Edwardian era. I tend to add darker colours to these schemes such as plummy shades of purple to add depth and stop the garden from looking too sugary-sweet.
‘Complimentary’ schemes focus on colours at opposite ends of the colour wheel. Using complimentary colours really does add a bit of energy to a scheme and has a cheerful quality that I really like.
Another approach is to use colours that lie next to each other on the colour wheel; think of some beautiful yellow-gold banksias, terracotta Achellia and some of the more muted mango-coloured Kniphofias.
Whatever you do, do it confidently. Colour is super-subjective so think about your own natural preferences. As the saying goes, you may as well do something that YOU love; at least that way you know you’ll be pleasing at least one person!
Landscape Designer Kaz Krasovskis
Insta: kazkrasovskis
www.kazkrasovskis.com.au