One of the glories of a garden is it’s always changing. Every season brings something new in terms of color, and each season has its own distinctive palette gardeners can play with thanks to trees and shrubs.
Striking red berries and evergreen foliage contrast beautifully with winter’s snows.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/Donna Krischan
Soft pastels dominate spring’s color palette and delight young passersby.
Photo Credit: Sarah Landicho
Summer colors can be bright and bold, like these fire-red fruits and bright green foliage.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
The medley of fall color reaches its climax for a few short weeks in autumn.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
One way to use color in the garden is to take your cues from nature. In a spring woodland or prairie, pinks, whites, yellows and other soft colors dominate. Introducing these colors to your garden brings the delights of the season to your doorstep. silverbells with pendant clusters of snow-white flowers, and flowering pears and forsythia herald the season, appearing at the same time as many daffodils. mockorange, weigela come into bloom soon after.
In summer, the warm sun brings bright colors to the fore, at the same time making the cooling greens of foliage particularly appealing. The yellow flower clusters of crape myrtles come slightly later. cinquefoil and ginkgos, oaks and arrowwood, redvein enkianthus, sweetspire, all of which offer a kaleidoscope of fall foliage that complements their larger kin.
Even in winter, the garden can be a source of beautiful hues. Winter color comes largely from bark, the green of evergreens and the berries of fruiting plants. Although most trees and shrubs have bark in the gray to brown range – which can be beautiful in itself – some have striking red or yellow bark. Redtwig dogwood and golden willow are two widely planted examples, and both work as exclamation points in the subdued winter garden.
While working with the hues of the season, keep in mind what’s most suitable to your climate and to the architecture of your home. Subtle, soft color schemes are usually best for traditional homes in temperate and cool climates, since soft colors show up well in the weakened sunlight of these latitudes. In contrast, a tropical-climate garden often works well with bright, vivid hues – colors that stand up well to the sun’s glare.
If you’ll be using a tree with colorful blooms as a specimen near your entry – or if you’re planning a foundation planting of blooming shrubs – the only real consideration will be whether the bloom color looks pleasing next to your home. For a red-brick home, white-flowering plants make an excellent choice, while a white house is usually best accented by a brighter color scheme.
For trees and shrubs in a mixed border, color planning requires more care. Here, an artist’s color wheel might be helpful. Colors that appear opposite each other on the wheel – yellow and purple, orange and blue, green and red – are called complementary colors. They provide dramatic contrast when placed next to each other in the garden. Colors that are adjacent to one another on the wheel – such as golds, oranges and yellows – are known as harmonizing colors. These colors blend together, giving a garden area a soothing sense of visual unity.
Keep in mind that garden color comes from foliage, as well as from flowers – and that foliage color can last almost year-round. So look for plants with bronze, burgundy, gold, purple, silver and yellow leaves to accent your home and garden. And use your artist’s eye to paint your garden with brilliance all season long!
