Fearless Color Gardens by Keeyla Meadows

Author:Keeyla Meadows
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: 2009-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

Outline drawing of a bench

Color moving from plants to bench

Color in the Plantscape-Hardscape Equation

Just as color has the harmony-contrast equation, garden design has the plantscape-hardscape equation. Garden design will always have two elements: plants, and everything else, which is the hardscape. The idea is to work one color palette between these two halves of the equation.

One way to get color to work on both sides of the plantscape-hardscape equation is to match colors. By matching colors, from one plant to another and one material to another, you can place color quite deliberately in the space. Start by matching your seed color to both plantscape and hardscape materials. This will give you the flexibility you need in order to place the color in both your plantscape and your hardscape as you build your complete garden picture. Matching colors gets the color to move within the space; one of my favorite uses of color matching is to create lines or streams of color.

Matching is also the easiest way to work with the existing color in your garden. Find one plant or hardscape feature in an area of the garden to designate as your seed color. Then as you add plants or hardscape features, use that color to extend into the space.

People are always surprised by how many color matches there are in my garden when they visit on open days. You, too, are invited to visit to see what’s matching. This is part of creating a flow to the harmonious color palettes. I call them color dreams, for as color flows from one material to another and from one form, texture, or shape to another, it gives that feeling of fluidity that is more common in dreaming. You could make a painting and then a garden of matching colors titled “The Garden Dreaming.” Make notes in your color journal about your garden’s dreams.

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