Colour is one of the key elements we - consciously or subconsciously - use to plan and design the planting in our gardens. There are certain things that are accepted wisdom. Red and hot colours shorten the perspective of a planting and make it appear closer. Blue and paler colours make it feel like it recedes further into the distance. Yellow is the colour most people say they won't have in the garden, and many people long for a white garden like the beautiful example at Sissinghurst.
But there are signs that the way we see colour in the garden is changing. When we asked landscape architect Stefano Marinaz to predict this year’s top garden trends, he noted how our approach to colour in garden design is becoming less staid and rule driven, and more adventurous, primarily as a way to boost biodiversity and support wildlife; “shifting from rigid colour palettes to maximalist planting designs that create harmonious plant communities”.
In turn, this more flexible approach encourages home gardeners to select plants “based on ecological roles and interactions, rather than purely aesthetic appeal,” says Stefano. Garden designers say colour is one of the most useful tools out there when discussing planting schemes with clients, not only for planning purposes, but for encouraging biodiversity too.
When James Hitchmough, Emeritus Professor of Horticultural Ecology at the University of Sheffield, joined us on our Talking Gardens podcast, he revealed he has used colour in his public planting designs to encourage less ‘nature-centric’ people and those living in urban areas to buy into biodiverse schemes. “Colour means lots of flowers, and lots of flowers means lots of pollen and nectar for invertebrates," he says. "Flowers are the engines which drive ecosystems.”
Listen to James's full podcast episode here:
Pack-a-punch colours
Gardeners have loved pastel schemes for a long time, planting with soft pinks and lilacs, pale blues, muted yellows and chalky whites. These shades of planting are particularly loved in English style and country gardens, and have been dissected in detail by designers from Gertrude Jekyll to Penelope Hobhouse, who both wrote entire books on the the topic of colour in the garden.
But this perennially popular look is falling out of fashion it seems; particularly in public areas. “Strong, bright colour palettes engage the viewer and achieve an important connection between plants and people,” says planting designer Andrew Fisher Tomlin, co-founder the London College of Garden Design and author of The Modern Professional Planting Designer (available to order).
However, “even the most flamboyant colour combinations in a planting design need a balance of softer colours,” says Andrew. In his own designs, he uses tone - the amount of grey in a colour that makes it darker or less vibrant - to prevent planting schemes from becoming too visually chaotic.
Climate-resilient colour
As the climate is changing, leading to unpredictable, extreme weather and prolonged periods of drought, it is natural that so too are gardeners and garden designers’ choices of plants and flowers for the garden.
“In response to climate change, there is a move away from plants with big, blowsy flowers that need plenty of water and regular feeding to sustain them, in favour of simpler, single flowers that benefit pollinators and are closer to the flower forms found in nature,” says former Gardens Illustrated editor Lucy Bellamy, author of Colour in the Garden.
With smaller flowers replacing larger ones, gardens are evolving from having “blocks of contrasting colours towards a more layered approach,” Lucy explains, “with colour coming through colour, so you can effectively see through them to the colours of the plants beyond.”
Lucy has several top tips for using colour in the garden in a more modern way, including keeping to a limited palette of plants and hues. "Add depth with tonal variation by choosing plants in lighter and darker tones of the same colours," she advises, "and look beyond petal colour, taking into account the colours of foliage, stems and the middles of flowers, as well as any leaf or petal-markings."
For inspiration, Lucy cites Sarah Price’s celebrated 2023 RHS Chelsea show garden for Nuture Landscapes, which she turns to as a defining and innovative example of colour used well in a contemporary way. “It marked a seminal moment for colour outside, using a pared-back palette of complex colours and giving them space to shine. It has been described as the GOAT; the greatest (show garden) of all time.”
Hear Sarah Price talk about this lauded 2023 show garden on our podcast: