Garden Design - Color

Plant color in garden design is immensely important and can be utilized to create focal points in the landscape. Dark-colored plants contrasted with light-colored plants draw one’s attention in a planting composition. For instance, unique, colorful foliage, like the reddish bronze of the smoke bush, stands out among the various greens of garden.
  
In the garden includes the color of foliage, flowers, fruit and bark. Colors can create feelings of coolness and warmth. They can also change the visual dimension of a garden. Cool colors, such as blue and purple, recede make a space seem larger than it is. Reds, oranges and other warm colors, on the other hand help create a more intimate feeling in the landscape.

Though your color scheme will help create an overall feeling in the garden, green is a constant in the landscape and will dominate the garden, especially through spring and summer. A variety of greens has more visual appeal than a uniform shade of green. A common mistake gardeners make is to use too many different colors. Try to stick with a small color pallet and an overall theme. This will help to tie all the elements of you garden together.
  
Try to plan for year-round color in the garden. Shrubs, small trees and bulbs can provide welcome color to your garden in the spring as they flower. A well planned and maintained perennial and annual garden can provide your garden with color lasting from spring through the fall. Deciduous trees and shrubs offer colorful fall foliage displays. Many garden shrubs form red, orange, white, blue or purple berries in the fall which last through the winter. Also, consider using trees and shrubs with interesting, colorful bark. Paper birch has wonderful white bark peeling which and red twig dogwood, as the name suggests produces vibrant red stems which contrast nicely with winter snow or brown earth. Evergreens, such as pine, juniper, holly and yew, are also a great way to add color to your landscape during the winter months.

Next: Texture in Garden Design

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