How to Pair Colours, Textures and Forms in my Garden?

Have you ever found yourself captivated by a beautifully designed garden, wondering how professional landscape designers create such visually appealing and harmonious spaces? What sets these gardens apart from less inspiring ones?

The secret often lies in understanding how to effectively pair colours, textures, and forms. In this article, we’ll delve into the art and science of creating a captivating garden by skillfully combining these three essential elements.

We’ll explore the basics of each element, how to pair them effectively in your garden, and practical tips to choose the right plants to achieve your desired aesthetic.

Understanding the Basics

What is Colour in Gardening?

Colour in gardening isn’t just about the flowers; it’s about the overall visual impact created by the combination of various elements. Colours can come from a variety of sources, including materials like paving stones or mulch, foliage, flowers, fruits, bark, and even outdoor furniture.

There are primary colours (red, blue, yellow), secondary colours (orange, green, purple – made by mixing primary colours), and tertiary colours (made by mixing primary and secondary colours). Each colour can set a mood and evoke emotions. For example, red is energising and daring, while blue is calming and serene.

What is Texture in Gardening?

Texture in gardening refers to the surface quality of an object that can be seen or felt. Like colours, textures in a garden can come from different sources – materials, foliage, flowers, fruits, bark, etc.

Textures can be categorised as fine, medium, or coarse. Fine textures, such as fern leaves or baby’s breath, can make a garden seem delicate and intricate. In contrast, coarse textures, like large, glossy monstera leaves or rough tree bark, can add boldness and drama to a space.

What is Form in Gardening?

Form in gardening pertains to the three-dimensional shape of a plant or object. The form can come from various sources, including materials, sculptures, plant growth habits, foliage shape, etc.

Forms can be vertical (like cypresses or columnar apple trees), horizontal (like sprawling groundcovers or low hedges), or round (like topiary balls or spherical blooming hydrangeas).

Each form can affect how your eyes move through the garden and contribute to the overall design.

How to Pair Colours in Your Garden

Understanding Colour Theory

Colour theory is a framework that informs the use of colour in art and design. The colour wheel, which organises colours in a circle, can help us to see relationships between them.

Different combinations on the colour wheel can create different effects. For example, complementary colours (those opposite each other on the wheel) can create vibrant contrasts, while analogous colours (those next to each other) can create harmonious blends.

While it can be tempting to go to the nursery and buy all of the prettiest plants we can find, it’s a good idea to avoid overwhelming the eye with too many intense colours. Include some neutral greens or whites to provide restful spaces.

Creating a Colour Scheme

Creating a balanced colour scheme involves deciding on a primary colour and then selecting additional colours that complement or contrast it effectively. This decision will depend on the mood you want to evoke in your garden – do you want it to be a tranquil retreat, or a lively, energising space?

For instance, a garden dominated by cool blues, purples, and greens can feel peaceful and calming, while a garden filled with bright reds, oranges, and yellows can feel invigorating and joyful.

Choosing Plants Based on Colour

Choosing plants based on their colour involves more than just considering their flowers. Think about how the colours of their leaves, stems, and fruits will contribute to your overall colour scheme.

For example, for a garden with a cool colour scheme, you might choose hostas for their lush green foliage, blue hydrangeas for their large, eye-catching flowers, and black mondo grass for its intriguing dark purple, almost black leaves.

Remember to consider the plant’s entire life cycle – some plants may have colourful new growth or autumn foliage, even if their flowers are less impressive or absent.

And never forget about bark. Eucalypts are a great plant group to look into for colourful barks – consider the powdery white and red stems of Eucalyptus caesia, or the mottled cream, brown and grey-purple chipped bark of Corymbia maculata.

How to Pair Textures in Your Garden

Understanding Texture Contrast

Texture contrast in gardening refers to the visual difference between plants based on their surface quality. For instance, a garden featuring both finely textured plants like ferns and coarser plants like cycads would be considered to have high texture contrast.

Using texture contrast effectively can add depth and interest to your garden. For example, you might plant a bed of fine-textured grasses like poa spp., then punctuate it with bold, coarse-textured plants like banksia spp. for a striking contrast that draws the eye.

Creating a Texture Balance

Creating a balanced texture scheme involves ensuring that neither fine nor coarse textures dominate your garden to the point where it feels overwhelming or monotonous. Here’s how to do it:

• Choose your dominant texture: Decide whether you want your garden to be primarily fine-textured or coarse-textured. This will set the overall ‘feel’ of your garden.
• Add contrasting textures: Introduce plants of the opposite texture to your dominant one. These will serve as focal points and prevent your garden from looking too uniform.
• Consider seasonality: Keep in mind that some plants may change texture throughout the year. For instance, deciduous trees might offer coarse texture in summer but fine texture in winter when they lose their leaves.

Choosing Plants Based on Texture

When choosing plants based on their texture, consider not just their leaves, but also their flowers, bark, and even their form. For example, the fine texture of acacia spp. foliage contrasts beautifully with the coarse, rugged bark of eucalypts.

How to Pair Forms in Your Garden

Understanding Form Balance

Form balance in gardening refers to the distribution of different plant shapes within your garden. Achieving form balance means ensuring that no one shape dominates, which can make your garden feel unbalanced or chaotic.

To use form balance effectively, consider using a variety of plant forms – vertical, horizontal, and round – throughout your garden. For instance, you might balance the vertical form of a callistemon tree with the rounded form of a grevillea and the horizontal form of a groundcover like scaevola.

Creating a Form Scheme

Creating a balanced form scheme involves:

• Choosing your dominant form: Decide whether you want your garden to be primarily vertical, horizontal, or round. This will set the overall ‘feel’ of your garden.
• Adding contrasting forms: Introduce plants of different forms to your dominant one. These will serve as focal points and prevent your garden from looking too uniform.
• Considering plant maturity: Keep in mind that a plant’s form can change as it matures. For example, a young lilly pilly might have a round form, but as it grows, it might become more vertical.

Choosing Plants Based on Form

When choosing plants based on their form, consider their mature size and how they’ll interact with the other plants in your garden. For example, the vertical form of a Norfolk Island pine contrasts well with the round form of a shrubby lilly pilly.

Practical Tips and Tricks for Pairing Colours, Textures, and Forms

• Start with a plan: Before you start planting, draw up a plan of your garden that includes the position, colour, texture, and form of each plant.
• Use repetition: Repeating certain colours, textures, or forms can help create a sense of cohesion and harmony.
• Consider the view from inside your home: Your garden should be appealing not just when you’re in it, but also when you’re viewing it from inside your house.
• Don’t forget about fruits, foliage and bark: While flowers can provide a seasonal burst of colour, other parts of each plant can provide year-round interest.
• Experiment: Don’t be afraid to try different combinations and see what works best in your garden.

Daniel’s Wrap

Pairing colours, textures, and forms is an art, but by understanding these principles and experimenting in your own garden, you can create a space that is visually appealing and uniquely yours.

So why not start planning your garden makeover today? With a little patience and creativity, you’ll soon have a garden you’re proud to call your own.