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Off-Colour Remarks

© Jojo Sigurgeirson

Many factors contribute to the beauty of a flower, and first and formost is colour. To many gardeners colour is the most important factor in choosing a new flower for the garden. Ask anyone to describe a flower and they will probably start by telling you what colour it is. There is also the form of the flower, whether or not it is fragrant, texture of the flower and the plant as a whole, and many other factors.

Colours as used in the garden can tell a story, tell the viewer about the gardener, show creativity, conservatism and bravery. Colours can also evoke emotion.

Colours Play Tricks on your Eyes The story goes that flower beds can be made to seem longer by planting hot, bright colours near the viewer, and cool, subdued blues and pinks farther away. Apparently, these subtle shades recede into the background. Some books recommend using 'active' colours such as red and yellow near childrens play areas and other places where there will be alot of energy. I beleive it is more important to follow your own sense of colour usage than to plant according to making your garden seem larger.

Show your personality when choosing colours for your garden.

Don't get too anal about colours. And what I mean by that is Analytically hyper-tense about your colour scheme. There was once a famous gardener who said, "Flowers are part of nature and naturally all flowers go together." Colours are like music. They can harmonize or they can go off-key, but either can sound really nice, depending on your ear, or eye.

Colour Quote

Flowers in masses are mighty strong colour, and if not used with a great deal of caution are very destructive to the pleasure in gardening. On the whole, I think the best and safest plan is to mix up your flowers, and rather eschew great masses of colour -- in combination, I mean. But there are some flowers -- inventions of men, ie: florists -- which are bad colour altogether, and not to be used at all. Scarlet geraniums, for instrance, or the yellow Calceolaria, which, indeed, are not uncommonly grown together profusely, in order, I suppose, to show that even flowers can be thoroughly ugly.

WILLIAM MORRIS, Hopes and Fears
of Art: 'Making the Best of it', Oxford
and Cambridge Magazine [c.1860]

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