5 beautiful colour schemes and combinations for any garden
Carefully selected colour scheme is what can clearly distinguish your garden from an average one. Wouldn’t you like to have a garden that stands out in the neighbourhood? Wouldn’t you like to see colours that put a smile in your eyes every time you look out of the window?
A well designed and thought garden colour combination can achieve that and more.
Without realising it, colours affect our bodies and mind in many ways. Some can bring us comfort and warmth, whereas others promote calmness and tranquillity. In many cases colours have been known to speed up healing and recovery.
But it’s not only our bodies and minds that react to them, our eyes can perceive them differently too. While warm colours can advance and seem closer to us, cooler colours usually recede and seem further away. This optical illusion can be used to visually enlarge or downsize your outdoor space. For more details see How to enlarge any garden by using optical illusions.
However, too many warm colours might appear fussy and eye-tiring and even trigger negative emotions. On the other hand, too many cooler colours will not bring the warmth to your garden. We recommend combining warm and cold colours to achieve the optimum balance and eye-pleasing effect.
Our favourite colour schemes include:
- Red and blue
- Yellow and blue
- Orange and purple
- Purple and pink
- Green and white
Red and blue.
Red is commonly associated with heat, passion and very often, anger in a large mass. That’s why we don’t advise using too much of this colour in one place.
Instead, try proportionately combining the smaller mass of red underplanted with the larger mass of blue. Blue colour represents calmness, tranquillity and softness. Together they create a lovely balance greatly enhancing any garden planting scheme.
Alternatively, you can divide these two colours in different areas to achieve another goal. Placing red closer to the house and the blue further away, can visually enlarge a small garden by advancing the red and receding the blue.
If you prefer red autumn colour, see Trees with stunning red foliage in fall.
Yellow and blue.
Yellow is the brightest colour on the spectrum and can be associated with positivity, optimism, energy, happiness and joy and often resembles a bringing of hope.
However, too much of the brightness can result in non-pleasing, eye-tiring and fussy decorative effect.
We recommend incorporating softening colours such as blue. Similarly, to the previous combination, an optimal balance will be achieved by alternating the masses of yellow and blue.
Orange and purple.
Orange colour often reminds us of sunshine and tropics and represents success, creativity and attraction. It can also symbolise a strength.
Similarly to yellow and red, its overuse can be overpowering at times and we advise to balance it with another cooler colour, in this case, purple.
Purple is associated with royalty, power and luxury, and represents creativity, peace and even mystery and magic.
Together, the orange and purple, combined attraction and mystery create a stunning garden colour scheme especially standing in the sunset, creating a glowing display.
Purple and pink.
A delicate pink colour associates with flowers and sweetness and often represents romance and passion.
Although these two colours sit next to each other on the colour wheel and are not warm and cool colour contrast, this combination is truly outstanding.
For best results, try using purple in the background, surrounded by pink as it is a more subtle colour.
Green and white.
You might not think too much of this combination, but there is a reason for it being on our list.
The colour of nature, green, often associated with growth and freshness.
White can be associated with purity and innocence and often represents a fresh new start.
White flowers brighten up any outdoor space at night in spring and summer moonlight. For the same reason we advise to use it in troublesome spots of your garden such as shady areas.
Not many plants thrive in full shade except for a few exceptions. Try combining the greenery of ferns with the brightness of Calla lilies (Arum lilies). The results can be overwhelming.
Colour schemes and combinations can bring joy, warmth, calmness, tranquillity or purity, as well as brightness to your outdoor space.
They can brighten up troublesome spots or create a glowing display.
Whichever combination you choose, careful planning and plant selection is a first step to a success.
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