An interesting and attractive flower bed involves a complex interplay of many separate parts. Putting together such a garden can be a delicate balancing act. Too much sameness can easily become dull and boring; too much variety can slip into chaos. On the other hand, continually remind yourself that no garden design is wrong. Most gardeners are constantly playing around with their compositions, moving flowers to try new and better combinations (part of the appeal of gardening with perennials is their cheerful acceptance of such treatment). As you tinker with your flower beds pay special attention to the three most important design elements: color, texture, and form.

Color

Color fashion is always arbitrary. After a few decades of having the pastel garden represent good taste in garden design, stronger colors have recently begun to enjoy a surge in popularity. Avoid the myth of clashing colors. No natural law governs color compatibility — in nature, anything goes. You need to determine what colors you like together, regardless of convention. You can plan a garden around your favorite color, repeat the colors you use inside your home, or find some other creative approach. You also need to decide whether to stick with a single color, to use two or three colors, or to go wild and embrace the whole spectrum of the rainbow.

Try various color combinations by cutting out pictures from garden catalogs and putting them together until the arrangement pleases you. Or go to a nursery, pick up your favorite perennial in bloom, and carry it around, placing it next to other flowers until you discover attractive associations (matching the water, sunlight, and soil needs of the plants to each other and to your garden site is equally important). In fact, an easy way to choose perennials for your garden is to buy one-third of the flowers that you need to fill your garden while they’re in bloom in the spring, buy another one-third in bloom in the summer, and one-third while in bloom in the fall. This way, you can be absolutely certain that they go together.

Look closely at a variety of flowers, and you notice that very few of them are solid colors. Most have shadings, and nearly all have contrasting centers. An effective design trick is to pick up these shades or center colors in neighboring flowers. For example, placing a white daisy with a yellow center next to a yellow lily visually ties the two together. You can also use intermediate colors to soften hard companions. If you have crayon reds and yellows fighting for your attention, adding either orange or pale yellow calms both of them down.

Looking Beyond The Blooms

When selecting flower colors, give some thought to the background. White flowers against a white wall don’t make much of a statement and may even blend in so well that they become invisible at 20 paces. Light colors stand out better against dark surfaces, and the reverse is also true. Pale pastel colors, such as pink, lavender, and soft yellow, look best in soft light — either early or late in the day, in shade, or in overcast climates. Strong reds, purples, oranges, and yellows are more dynamic and stand up better to intense sunlight. White becomes luminescent at dusk or by moonlight.

And don’t overlook foliage when considering flower color.  ....read more