Color | Deborah Silver & Co.

A Few Thoughts About Color

Given that there are 3 primary colors, and three secondary colors, and infinite possible combinations and permutations of those 6 colors, makes the topic of color a big one. Have you ever tried to pick a color for a room from 10,00 paint chips? I will admit I buy a lot of quarts to try before I commit to gallons of a color. Understanding and working with color is hard. Annual and tropical plants provide a level and longevity of color I do not get from my trees, shrubs and perennials. It could very well be that the reason that I so love container plantings is that they enable me to explore the element of color-over and over again. The relationship of one color to another, or a color scheme, is of interest to me as a garden designer. Planting annuals is the best way to try a color scheme on-before you commit to it in the landscape. Explaining why certain color combinations are attractive, interesting is not so easy. Pictures make things easier. This dark red nicotiana pops when it is paired with a contrasting color, and when it is placed so the light shines through the petals. This scheme-electrically charged by the rays of the sun.

Explaining why certain color combinations work, and why some schemes are attractive and interesting to my eye-not so easy. My approach to color is very personal and intuitive. I am just like every other gardener. Some schemes seem right-others seem off putting. But there are some observations I can make about color that might abet your choices. This picture makes it clear that pale colors appear to come forward, while dark colors appear to recede. The idea here? If I have a mind to plant dark colored flowers, I plant pale colored flowers behind them. A light background helps a dark color to read.

Hot colors-as in red, yellow, orange, and hot pink, light up a shadier spot. Fancy leaved geraniums contribute to a color composition via their leaves. The Skies of Italy geranium has leaves of red, burgundy, green and yellow. The color of the leaves of this geranium can help knit a color composition together.

Shiny green is a very different green than matte green. The surface of a color can influence how that color reads. A dining room painted in red high gloss lacquer is a much different dining room than one painted in matte wine red paint. Color provokes emotional and associative reactions. The reaction that matters? yours. Look at a lot of color combinations before you commit. This makes good design sense. Emerald green is a combination of yellow and blue, fairly evenly matched. How does this emerald green look with the colors of the flowers you have chosen? Choose your greens!

Red can be dark and moody in the garden. It can be royally rich-when paired with yellow. Pale yellow with dark red is not quite the brass band that fire engine red and gold yellow makes. Pasiring red and yellow has many possible interpretations. A variation on a traditional color theme can be very striking. My advice-if you are developing a color scheme, pick 3 colors. Two colors is a story with not enough detail. The third color facilitates the relationship between the first two.

How many shades of white are there? White white. cream white. blue white. rosy white. Greenish white. Even an all white color scheme asks for some attention to be paid to the particular shade of white that works. Some white flowers have yellow centers. This would suggest that a yellow green foliage would compliment that shade of white. Blue-white flowers, such as this silverberry petunia-yellow flowers would contrast. Dark purple flowers would harmonize.

Harmonious colors tend to be quieter. More serene. Contrasting colors provide visual excitement. Lime green foliage always looks fresh and spring like. Red with lime-very pleasing. Lime with white-fresh. Lime and orange-provocative. Lime and purple-don’t you like this? Lime green in the sun? oo la la. Lime green in the shade-the lights are on in this garden. Lime green and pink-so Coco Chanel or Lily Pulitzer. Pale lime and pale pink-fragile, ephemeral-breathtaking. Wildly lime-a light fantastic version of green.

I will admit I like planting containers with plants all of the same tone and color. The exploration of a single color in a lot of different plants makes a strong visual statement. It focuses the eye on texture-another important design element. If you are a big fan of texture, stay steady as you go with the color. Contrast the texture.

Are you a fan of pink? Which pink? Carmine pink. blue pink. coral pink? pale pink? Dark carmine pink? Blue pink? Not all pink flowers harmonize. If you are hoping to stir things up, plant a variety of pinks, and let the chips fall where they may. More interested in a strong and harmonious statement about a blue pink-you eye will tell you when a yellow based pink is gumming up the works. Put lots of plants in your cart. Put back those plant whose flowers threaten to dilute your idea. As for right and wrong-that applies only to moral questions. This is gardening. Enjoy it. Just take the time to sort through the color relationships.

I have had this photograph of a Coral Charm peony on my computer for a long time-I do not know the photographer. If this is your photograph, please write me. I am posting it, as the color of this peony is so striking and unique, that it surely would inspire a color scheme-a spring color scheme-that would pay tribute to such an extraordinary color.

Light and dark colors-the contrast is lively.

Pale pinks with blue green foliage-a great scheme for semi shady places.

The carmine pink of this cosmos flower is all the more visually dramatic-given the yellow center, and the burgundy red corolla. The contrast of the yellow and red center makes that carmine pink shine.

On the left in this picture-an orange begonia heavy on the yellow. On the right, an orange tipping towards blue. There is orange. There is another version of orange.

The blue green foliage of the bok choy clearly compliments the color of the blue violas.. The addition of white makes the scheme all the more crisp and fresh. Cool and clean-this scheme.

Lavender and purple-you have choices. The sun will make its own statement about your choices. Light and dark purple both colors can be the star of the show. Both colors can be a supporting cast that makes your central idea shine. Purple is a color that fits into a lot of different color schemes.

Sunny yellow-there is nothing quite like it. Yellow is the color of the light that every garden thrives in. Have a place for something yellow? I recommend this level of garden cheer. Your idea bout color is a good idea. Another good idea-follow through on your sense of color. Make the colors work just the way you want them to.

Posted on: May 26, 2013 6 Comments

The Impatiens Dilemma

I have a big love for all of the annual plants that are available to augment my garden. Many of them come from tropical climates. One of the most popular annual plants of all time is impatiens walleriana. This plant grows readily in the heat, and covers itself with self cleaning flowers in a wide range of colors. Impatiens also tolerates a good bit of shade. They are happy in the sun, given sufficient water. They are the workhorse of annual shade bedding plants. That said, the impatiens are sick. A fungal disease that causes the plants to collapse in a rotten mess has infected our area. This picture, taken in 2009, at the one place I plant impatiens, tells the tale. I was so sure the client was over watering. I know now the plants were diseased. This devastating disease has affected impatiens plants all over the globe. There has been lots of discussion about planting impatiens this year in my area. I believe those major growers who are brave enough to suggest the disease is currently inherent in the seed. The upshot-should you find a nursery this season who still offers impatiens for sale, be advised that your purchase comes with an expiration date. Preventative applications of fungicide may stave off the disease, but once the disease is present, there is no cure. Any places planted with impatiens last year should not be replanted with them this year. No matter how much you love impatiens, the look of the plants in the picture above is not a good look.

The list of annual and tropical plants that tolerate shady locations is considerable. The toughest part is getting past the fact that a favorite plant in a favorite color is not available. On the positive side, adverse conditions can produce some very interesting and creative results. Green shade plants such as the irisine standards pictures, hostas, creeping jenny are not prized for their flowers, but the leaves are strikingly colorful. The same goes for the oxalis and Moses in the cradle. The flowers are not so showy, but the leaf color is spectacular.

Dragon wing begonias are quite tolerant of shade, though the colors tend towards the yellow reds, coral and orange-not at all like the bluish pinks so common in impatiens. The appearance of the color of this plant has everything to do with the color of its companion plants. Yellow will make this flower appear more coral orange. A red violet companion makes this begonia appear more rose red.

Fuchsia flowers may be small, but they have a very interesting shape, and come in a wide range of colors. A fuchsia on standard makes a great centerpiece in a container planted for shade. This fuchsia “Ballerina” will flower next to a north wall, all summer long.

Few shade tolerant annuals can rival coleus and caladiums for dramatic color and form. For many years coleus did not interest me that much. The colors looked so muddy. New cultivars have very clear and vibrant colors. They old standard caladiums have a lot more company these days. The arrow and strap leaf caladiums have a saucy shape, and are visible from quite a distance. The new white cultivars are very bright in shady locations. Variety is the spice of life, yes? In my opinion, the planting in this window box is much more visually interesting than a mass of impatiens. A good design assembles a collection of materials that look good together. Sometimes, the relationship between one element and another is vastly more interesting that the individual element alone. I do understand that there is a financial aspect to the impatiens debacle. An impatiens plant runs between .25 and .40 each. A single 4″ pot of coleus is 10 times that much. But many growers are offering coleus and seed New Guinea impatiens in flats. Some larger growing shade annuals can be found in 6 packs-18 plants to a flat. Other alternatives? Take the most ordinary white fibrous begonias in flats, and plant them in interesting shapes, swirls and stripes. Make the statement with a shape, rather than a specific variety. Impatiens has a tendency to get massive and shapeless by summer’s end. A planting of white or pick or red fibrous begonias can hold an intricate shape or pattern. A mix of three colors is more sparkly and interesting than one color. Those begonias can be punctuated with a 4″ pot of some other shade tolerant annual every so often. Another tip-fibrous begonias with dark leaves have a dour muddy look-stick with the green leaved varieties, unless you have a whole “other than green” foliage idea in mind. But the best of this bad situation is a chance to become acquainted with plants you may have passed by before. There are some very beautiful plants out there, looking for a home for the summer.

solenia rose pink begonias

coleus and solenia orange begonias

torenia kauai rose

pink polka dot plant

This container does have a dash of color courtesy of a blob of lipstick impatiens. But that impatiens is by no means the star of this show.

Posted on: May 6, 2013 27 Comments

Filed Under: Color, container planting, Plants Tagged With: shade tolerant annuals, shade annuals for Michigan, impatiens substitutes, impatiens fungal infection, impatiens disease

The Spring Season

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but the spring season has an aura like no other. Any plant, whether it be a tree or summer flowering shrub, a bulb or a perennial, responds to nature’s call to break dormancy, and grow. From the biggest maple to the smallest hepatica, the plants are growing. There is a lot of commotion in the air. The plants are not pacing themselves, as they do in the heat of the summer. They are not slowing down, as in the fall. Or asleep, as in winter. It’s full speed ahead. The atmosphere in the garden is fully charged, electrified by all that energy being brought to bear-all at once- on the landscape. Rob has been taking instagram pictures the past few days. The options for filtering and electrifying color makes this spring container really feel like spring.

Each of these hellebore flowers tells a story about my collection. I have a fair number of plants. I especially appreciate the form of the flowers. But what I love about them the best is that they make a grand show in the spring. The hellebores coming into bloom are like the bells of spring ringing out. They are quite hardy. Old clumps are large; the foliage is evergreen until mid winter for me.

Sanguinaria, or bloodroot, is a native Michigan wildflower. A single leaf rises out of the ground, entirely curled around a single flower bud on its own leafless stalk. What a story this is, yes? The single white flowers are open for a few days at best, before the petals drop. If you do not check the emerging plant often in the spring, it could be you will miss the flower altogether. The small leaves are strikingly shaped and veined. Soon after flowering, the plant will go dormant until the following year. The spring season can be fraught with icy and windy weather. Though it is the same length as all of the other seasons, spring seems to come and go in an instant. The time of the bloodroot- hours.

The crabapple “Donald Wyman” has bright pink buds, and a profusion of white flowers. A crabapple blanketed in flowers is one of spring’s most breathtaking events. In a cool spring season, they are a delight to the eye for a week or better. The teardrop shaped petals-how do they manage to stay attached on a windy spring day? Crabapples in bloom-glorious.

In swampy areas, the skunk cabbage forms massive leafy clumps that look good enough to eat. However, skunk cabbage is poisonous to mammals. The plants will warn you. The leaves when disturbed smell like rotten meat. This spring beauty has luscious looks, but should be admired from afar.

Today’s pansies and violas look much different than their more self effacing ancestors. This particular bicolor pansy, with its distinctive dark whiskers, is saturated with intense color. This is spring blooming at its most robust. Though the pansies and violas do not really pick up steam, and flower heavily until the beginning of June, each individual face announces the coming of spring in the most cheery way imaginable. They are so unlike any other flower in form and color. Fault me if you wish, but a pansy in August would be out of place. They belong to spring.

Rob’s instagram photograph of a dark speckled hellebore proves that spring can also be moody and sultry . Rainy and chilly. It also makes the point loud and clear that the atmosphere of a landscape can be altered by light and color-to spectacular effect. Creating a mood, or an atmosphere in a garden is one of the most difficult aspects of landscape design. It cannot be taught, nor can it be forced. It can be aspired to. Spring is that season that every gardener can turn loose of the past, and start fresh. The sap rises in the plants and the gardeners alike.

The saucer magnolia features very large flowers of great substance. The queen bee/Sarah Bernhardt of the spring flowering trees, this magnolia likes cool spring temperatures, but not too cool. Warm spring temperatures, but not too warm. A good bloom demands next to perfect conditions as if it were a God given right. It seems like every Michigan spring features some weather element or another which causes all of the petals to fall to the ground in a heap. A thick mulch of magnolia petals on the ground-that would be our spring.