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What is it about colour that makes it so powerful? This is a question I often think about when talking to clients about colour in their garden projects. It's a fascinating one because for- us humans, colour can create a powerful emotional reaction. It can influence our psychology, alter our mood and signify everything from danger to safety to our human minds. Here’s a thought: Colour has its own language and we can learn to speak it.
When it comes to colour in our homes we tend to make these choices fairly easily. By gut instinct. By what we’ve always loved and what we’re inspired by. So why is it that so many of us find it so hard to choose colour in our garden spaces? I guess choosing colours in the garden somehow feels permanent and more daunting. And the endless choices can just feel overwhelming.
The real reason for this is based in the wild: when choosing interior colours we are dealing with relatively static spaces. These spaces which might change throughout the day with different light sources natural to artificial, but gardens are a different story. When choosing colour for the garden space we also have to consider that they are living, breathing dynamic spaces which change daily, weekly, monthly and seasonally. This is why it feels like many of us don’t know where to start.
I suggest taking a long look (with your favourite cup of tea) at what your garden offers you in terms of location, planting, light, shadow and your existing home and its style. I would also say consider your views and what sort of colours and tones are happening beyond your site. This is a great way of beginning the quest for what will work within your space from the colour perspective.
Your concept tells a story which is uniquely personal to you. I absolutely love creating a unique concept for a garden and a great way to get started is to create a mood board concept which embraces your favourite tones and plants. A concept should also include ‘mood words’ which identify how you want your garden space to feel. This is incredibly handy when you go to choose your colours as every colour you choose creates a particular atmosphere.
Planting is what brings a garden to life and what makes it unique throughout the seasons. Look at what planting you have growing on the site and what the colours of these plants are throughout the seasons. Think about what you want to add to the space and what sort of story you want to tell with the planting. The choices for planting can even be based on your favourite colour or a colour you would like to choose for a garden wall, fence or feature.
Comes to seasons you might have some existing plants on site would you want to work with. For example, you might have some incredible trees that turn rusty tones in autumn and your colour scheme can be built around this to celebrate these tones at that time of the year. Similarly look at Spring and flowering trees and how the colours you choose might interact with those blossoms at that time of the year. If you have nothing in your garden yet and you are planting new trees and plants then your garden concept becomes all the more important.
Choosing colour for the garden should also consider the colours you have inside your home. Particularly if you have views from the kitchen, dining room or the living room out into the garden, the colours you have used on the inside can blend from inside to outside and create an incredibly pleasing feeling of connection. It brings the garden more into the home- and a home more into the garden. The fact that Colourtrend has every finish in every colour inside and out makes this so easy and enjoyable.
• To get started I would suggest using a piece of paper to write down your mood words for your garden space. This can be anything from relaxing, to invigorating to moody to calming and more. Basically these mood words or how you want to feel within your space when you walk into the garden. Then I would suggest picking up a Colourtrend Colour Cards and using this to create your own mood board. (You can also do this online of course where every colour trend paint is available as a colour swatch.)
• Now, choose a combination of your favourite colours and add them to your mood board.
• Last but not least, identify your favourite plants and add them. By laying it all together and looking how they interact we ca edit, adapt and make changes we are colours might not work together well. Trust your gut on this – choose the colours which make you feel most joyful and like they are most you.
• Now go and do one of my favourite things- try the paints! I suggest you go get some Colourtrend sample pots and try them out and see how they work within your garden space. I always think this is absolutely vital as every paint looks totally different in different locations. Most of all- have fun!
If you’re feeling stuck and don't know where to start I have created an incredible edit of colours using the colourtrend range which work wonderfully in tune with most planting schemes. It is a unique combination of rich colours which are based on texture and tonality. Warm, moody tones which act as gorgeous backdrops for planting.
See the Colourtrend X Leonie edit at Bord Bia Bloom
To see this gorgeous edit being used in a real garden you can come and visit Leonie in her ÓIR- The Zarbee’s Garden at Bord Bia Bloom on the June bank holiday weekend.
See Leonie's Bloom Garden Edit Below or Download Here!
Leonie will be showcasing the rich hues of the Collaboration edit in her gorgeous
pollinator inspired balcony garden
