When most gardeners think about plant combinations, they rarely refer to a color wheel. And they should. It’s a tool that can be vastly helpful. Maybe you saw one in kindergarten and remember the primary colors of red, blue, yellow. Secondary colors–the ones between. Those terms are useful but not important for the designer. A more useful way is to think of the color wheel as pairs of complementary colors (colors opposite each other on the color wheel). These are hues that team up to flatter each other and to appear more vibrant. And importantly provide contrast so you can see the color. Ever put purple against a dark green? You’ve paid for a plant you can’t see!
The same vibrant and contrasting pairing works with tints (add white to basic color) and tones (add black to color). White’s in the center of the wheel. Notice that pale lavender pairs with its complementary yellow hue or tone. And vice versa. Dark yellow pairs with deep purple as well as lavender.
One last note: Use colors in threes. Suggestion: Pick a favorite color, then select it’s opposite or compliment, and add one color that is adjacent (gives you four choices). For example, looking at the wheel–if I choose blue, then the compliment is orange (remember includes the possibility of its’ tint– coral). For the third color you have four choices: red or yellow (the adjacent colors for orange) or purple or green (the adjacent colors for blue). The green could be a pale green foliage that adds to combination.
This Adrian Bloom Garden at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society at Elm Bank in Massachusetts shows successful use of color. You can create your own beautiful combinations using the color wheel.
The container arrangement above shows an advanced use of color. Primary pairing is red and green with a second complimentary pairing of purple and yellow with the adjacent blue. I choose these combinations because I wanted a rich but cheerful combination. Colors associate with emotions. Yellow bring cheerfulness to a composition and also spatially moves forward. A topic for another blog.
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