Planting with a Limited Color Palette It’s easier to create winning combinations with simplified schemes by Tracy DiSabato-Aust HE art of designing a bed or border color, with its seemingly endless choic- palette includes just two or three colors, T can be as engaging to a gardener as es. Suddenly this exciting process can such as analogous colors or one color painting is to an artist. For me, the most become overwhelming. and its complement (see sidebar, p. 44). exhilarating and creative part of garden One way to simplify the design A key advantage of both monochro- design is making dramatic plant combi- process is to reduce the number of matic and limited color schemes is that nations. An outstanding combination in variables. I’ve found that using a limit- they focus attention on the details and a garden thrills me and often sends me ed color palette, even a monochromatic subtleties of a design. Both types em- running for my camera as I yearn for scheme, is an effective and rewarding phasize the structure and rhythm of a just the right light to capture the vision. way to design combinations. planting. Plant form and the texture of But creating these elusive “works of A monochromatic color scheme, leaf, stem, flower, and fruit are more art” with living plants can be compli- which incorporates shades, tints, and easily appreciated. A design that is sim- cated. Form, texture, repetition, bal- tones of a single basic color, such as red ple and cohesive in color also can con- ance, and contrast are just a few key or blue, drastically reduces color com- vey an air of sophistication. Especially elements to consider. And then there’s bination possibilities. A limited color with monochromatic schemes, the Photos except where noted: Ian Adams March April 2001 43 scene is less distracting, since the eye into one another (photo, p. 47). The USING THE COLOR WHEEL TO PLOT PLANT CHOICES doesn’t need to constantly refocus with 6,000-square-foot mixed border starts This diagram of the color spectrum illustrates shades (inner ring), pure hues (middle), and tints (outer). ever-changing color. Shifts in light will with the color red and proceeds to or- play on a monochromatic scheme and ange (bottom photo, p. 46), then to VIOLET TO RED-VIOLET deepen the mystery of its elegance. peach, yellow, blue, and on to purple. My preference for this approach to There’s a seating area in the tranquil Allium sphaerocephalon (drumstick allium) color was greatly enhanced when I was purple section, and then the colors Callicarpa dichotoma ‘Issai’ (purple beautyberry) asked by Bert and Susan Hendley to continue through the border in reverse Abies procera Solenostemon scutterioides ‘Burgundy Giant’ (‘Burgundy Giant’ coleus) Acer griseum create a garden that was different from order. Each section is designed to evoke ‘Glauca Prostrata’ Cimicifuga ‘Hillside Black Beauty’ (bugbane) (paperbark maple) what you might usually see in the a different mood. (dwarf Noble fir) Papaver orientale ‘Patty’s Plum’ (Oriental poppy) Cotinus coggygria ‘Velvet United States. The proposed border Agastache barberi Cloak’ (purple smoke tree) Sanguisorba tenuifolia ‘Purpurea’ (purple burnet) RED TO RED-ORANGE ‘Blue Fortune’ was within a larger garden in central START WITH A SIMPLE SCHEME Vitis vinifera ‘Purpurea’ (purpleleaf grape) Monarda ‘Jacob Cline’ Cerinthe major (bee balm) Ohio full of unusual plants and mixed So how do you choose a monochro- ‘Purpurascens’ Phormium tenax ‘Bronze Baby’ colors. To develop something that matic or limited-palette theme? I get Echinops ritro ssp. (dwarf New Zealand flax) would fit, I decided to design a “col- ideas by visiting gardens and noting ruthenicus ‘Veitch’s Blue’ Ricinus communis (globe thistle) orist” garden, similar in some ways to which colors move me. I often review ‘Carmencita’ Panicum virgatum ‘Dallas (castor bean) Hadspen Garden in Somerset, England, slides I’ve taken at other gardens and Blues’ (switch grass) Spigelia marilandica designed by Nori and Sandra Pope. use colored pencils to sketch on paper Monochromatic schemes emphasize sub- Phlox divaricata (Indian pink) The garden I designed takes the visi- tleties in plant forms, textures, and colors. the colors that were used in an appeal- VIOLET TO BLUE BLUE ssp. laphamii Tigridia pavonia tor through the different areas of the The rounded, golden flowers of Coreopsis ing combination or vignette. This really (blue phlox) (peacock Vitex angus- flower) color wheel, with individual mono- tripteris contrast with the bold linear form gets my creative juices flowing. Art and delicate glossy needles of Picea orien- castus var. chromatic sections gracefully melding talis ‘Skylands’. books, tapestries, and, of course, nature latifolia (chaste tree) THE HUE AND CRY OF COLOR THE IMPACT OF ADJACENT COLORS The following are key terms that COMPLEMENTARY COLORS: A complementary relate to individual colors and color, one that’s opposite on the color wheel (facing color schemes. page), can brighten another color’s intensity. For example, in an orange scheme, include some small HUE refers to pure color containing areas of blue flowers (opposite orange on the color no white, black, or gray. Primary hues wheel) to create tension and brighter focal areas. are red, yellow, and blue; orange, In a red garden,green foliage is a ready-made green, and violet are secondary hues. brightener (photo at right). VALUE refers to the degree of a Foeniculum Acer palmatum YELLOW-ORANGE ORANGE TO color’s luminosity. Lighter colors, ANALOGOUS COLORS: Analogous colors, which are vulgare (fennel) ‘Sango-kaku’ known as tints, contain more white. adjacent on the color wheel, easily harmonize and Helleborus (coralbark maple) Darker colors, called shades, contain make pleasing combinations (photo at right). Keep foetidus Epimedium ϫ more black. For example, pink is a tint in mind, however, that analogous colors can have the (stinking hellebore) warleyense of red, and maroon is a shade of red. effect of driving each color further apart. For exam- Hosta ‘Invincible’ Euphorbia griffithii ‘Fireglow’ ple, when blue is next to green, the blue may appear Ilex glabra (inkberry) INTENSITY refers to a color’s satura- purplish and the green yellowish. A flower that ap- Nicotiana langsdorffii Hedychium coccineum tion. As a color becomes grayer or (Red ginger lily) pears red when isolated from other red flowers may (flowering tobacco) duller it is desaturated and referred Thuja occidentalis Kniphofia ‘Alcazar’ look muddy-pink and “wrong” among truer reds. Berberis thunbergii ‘Golden Nugget’ (golden dwarf (red-hot poker) to as a tone. ‘Filiformis’ Japanese barberry) (American Papaver lateritium GREEN TO GREEN TO BLUE-GREEN Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (Japanese fountain grass) MONOCHROMATIC SCHEMES are LIGHTS, DARKS, AND NEUTRALS: A neutral color, arborvitae) ‘Flore Pleno’ (poppy) based on a single color, including its such as gray or brown, will make an adjacent color Helianthus salicifolius (willow-leaved sunflower) Tropaeolum majus tints, shades, and tones. stand out. For example, a planting that features Humulus lupulus ‘Aureus’ (golden hops vine) ‘Amazon Jewel’ Ipomoea ‘Margarita’ (chartreuse sweet potato vine) (nasturtium) LIMITED PALETTE SCHEMES can purple flowers will be enlivened with splashes of Picea orientalis ‘Skylands’ (golden Oriental spruce) feature just a few colors that are gray foliage (photo at right). A color's value can be Stylophorum diphyllum (Celandine poppy) adjacent on the color wheel, or per- lightened by placing it against a darker background. haps a color and its complement. Conversely, a color's value can be darkened by placing it next to a lighter background. YELLOW TO YELLOW-GREEN 44 Fine Gardening March April 2001 45 COLOR CAN AFFECT THE MOOD OF A PLANTING Color can influence our thoughts, health, and actions, thus profoundly affecting the mood of the garden and the gardener. Hot colors such as yellow, orange, bright red, and vivid magenta can evoke feelings of liveliness, vitality, and cheer. Hot colors advance toward the viewer and can make an area or combination appear closer or more prominent. Cool colors such as blue, soft pink, lilac, and creamy-white are soothing and recede from the viewer. Green is a balanced hue, neither hot nor cool, and is said to promote feelings of harmony in the viewer. According to color theorists, each color also has subtle meanings that are worth considering. Red is said to help people cope with the demands of life. Violet is believed to foster creative inspiration and inner calm.Yellow is linked to intellectual and inspirational stimulation. Orange is said to convey optimism and a welcoming presence, and blue reportedly inspires contempla- tion and patience. are all excellent sources of inspiration. ‘Sapphire’ or Heuchera ‘Velvet Night’ Sometimes a single plant with its vary- Sometimes a single could be used as the unifying link in all ing tints and shades of a color can work the seasons. Since color is subjective, go as a model for color in a bed or border, plant with its varying with colors you like, and be brave. or in an entire garden. tints and shades of a Plants can always be moved, so have You can also vary the color scheme fun playing with them. within a section in different seasons. color can work as a You may want to consider tying two You may want to focus on soothing or more schemes together with the use blues in spring, exploding yellows in model for color in a of analogous colors, as I did in the col- summer, and muted oranges in autumn. bed or border, or in an orist garden. Varying shades of green Plants with foliage in blues and pur- also make excellent transitional colors, ples, such as Helictotrichon sempervirens entire garden. since green is present in most plants. If you don’t want to create a whole new garden, consider rearranging an existing border to concentrate a color theme.