You may start out in gardening and color theming with an almost overwhelming desire to fill your plot with a blaze of mixed colors for as many months of the year as you possibly can. But as your tastes get more sophisticated, you begin to realize that restricting the rainbow to two, three or even a single color can produce more impact.
If it’s almost instant results you are after then look no further than bedding plants. Not only are they likely to be in flower when you plant them, they will also grow to a predictable size and shape and have often been selected for a particularly strong, soft or unusual color.
Best of all, they usually flower for several months after planting. However, successful gardening and color theming need not rely exclusively or even partly on the likes of petunias and red salvias. Perhaps the most satisfactory schemes of all are ones that blend together hardy and half-hardy varieties.
Indeed, some of the most widely admired and visited gardens do just that. Even if they appear at first to be on a rather grand scale, there will always be an underlying plant association achieved with just a handful of varieties that we can copy at home.
Gardening and color theming – Popular themes
One of the most striking themes of all is the red border. It relies on foliage and flowers for impact. Scarlet dahlias and red hot Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ for example, are given added potencywith a backdrop of purple-leaved cannas and cordylines. At the other end of the spectrum, pastel pinks and blues will give a much more soft and subtle feel, especially when blended with grey and white foliage plants.
A yellow and white border or even a single container will always look sharp and refreshing, whereas white on its own may be cool and chic in sunlight, but can look dull and lifeless under leaden skies.
Pots, trellis, paving and even garden furniture can all be chosen or painted to complement your garden theme.
