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Color Schemes
Since color preference is so personal, we hesitate to sug
gest definite color schemes. We have one client, for example,
who is fond of magenta. She claims it is a "cool" color, and
uses it lavishly in a garden of great beauty and distinction.
We have an English friend who is fond of red; her long
double borders fairly sing with warm brilliant color. In our
own old, mature garden we are more interested in line, form,
texture, and green foliage, than in color, and use it only In
cidentally. Magenta is difficult and tricky; the reds would be
garish in northeastern or Middle Western sections, where we
lack the misty English atmosphere which blends bright colors.
Our type of garden does not fit new plantings in which the
right effect of line, form, or texture is yet to come into being.
But since we discourage the use of restrictive and complex
color schemes, we will offer other reasonable solutions. The
two methods that follow have been found in actual practice
to produce satisfactory gardens.
A Seasonal Scheme
The difficulty with one-color schemes is the scarcity of
bloom at certain seasons. If you rely on nature's seasonal
colors, however, yellow and white for spring, rose for early
summer, blue and gold for midsummer, pink for late sum
mer, and blue, purple, and gold for autumn, it will not be too
difficult to have abundant color throughout the season. Al
though she is no stickler for subtle harmonies, nature does
have a lavish hand.
This natural color scheme provides bloom from frost to
frost, and also satisfies the more catholic taste irked by re
stricted schemes. Clashes there may be, for there is bound to
be some overlapping, but these, if carefully noted when they
occur, can be corrected next year. Meanwhile cutting flowers
of offending color will stop the disturbance. To avoid obvious
crudities, some care in planning is necessary. Oriental pop
pies with pink and blue lupine or pink pyrethrum or tawny
daylilies with crimson climbing roses are obviously bad com
binations that frequently result from a lack of planning. Plant
the poppies instead with cool lavender iris, and the tawny
daylilies with white or yellow flowers. We do not advocate
the seasonal method for gardeners highly sensitive to color
nuances. For them, more refined and subtle combinations
hold greater charm.
The seasonal scheme usually results in a certain boldness.
We cannot agree with the woman who banned coreopsis from
her garden because it was "common and vulgar." Often bold
colors are just what is needed to bring vitality and verve to
the picture.
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