News Article
News Article
Contact: Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont
As every gardener would agree, flowers provide color in the landscape. But it is an understanding of color and its uses that allows gardeners to make the most of their flowerbeds.
Color selection can make a flowerbed appear close or distant. A distant planting of bright colors will appear closer if softer shades of the same color are used near the viewer. Using softer colors at a distance and strong colors near the house reverses the effect.
Colors can impart a sense of temperature. Red, orange, and yellow are considered warm colors. When used on a sunny patio, they give a sense of warmth. The cool colors are blues, purples, and greens. Use them in shady areas, and they make the shade seem even cooler.
Use one or two compatible colors throughout the landscape to develop a relaxing mood. Pastel or weak colors work better than strong vivid colors for this purpose as this rather monotonous color scheme creates a restful feeling.
Using strong, contrasting colors creates an exciting landscape. The eye jumps from one color to the next, creating a busy, exciting feeling.
Flower colors should be compatible. Colors that clash can be used in the same bed if they are widely separated. In established perennial gardens, dilute problem color combinations with interplantings of white or pale yellow flowers.
Color must be considered when planning a garden to supply cut flowers. Don't exclude your favorite flowers, just because they're "the wrong color." When selecting flowers for planting near the house, consider the colors of your home's exterior. For visual attractiveness, you may not want to plant flowers whose colors clash with "the paint job," so to speak.
For plantings of flowers viewed from a particular room you may want to repeat colors used in the room decor.
Color can add pizzazz to your landscape, but it's a two-edged-sword. Bright red flowers planted near the front door draw the attention of visitors and guide them to the door. The same red flowers planted where garbage cans are stored will draw attention there. Bright colors planted everywhere are not effective attention getters.
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