by Jo Arnell<\/p>\n
Now that there are flowers in abundance in the borders (in theory at least), colour becomes one of the most noticeable factors that infl uence the look – and possibly the mood of the garden. There are many theories about how we respond to colour, but interestingly we don\u2019t all have the same reaction to the same colours. For instance; I might fi nd blue flowers calming and tranquil to look at, but you could find them really depressing. Red could be cheerful and energising, or drive you into a rage – depending on your personality (do bulls get depressed when they see blue, I wonder?). Green though, according to the theory, is universally relaxing and soothing, which is handy as it tends to be the prevailing outdoor colour. The famous \u2018Green Room\u2019 used by television companies is apparently so called because it calms people down prior to their appearance. <\/p>\n
The intensity of colour can play visual tricks on us. Bright colours appear closer and stand out from a green background, whereas pastel shades recede and give the illusion of distance and space. Colours will change according to the light they\u2019re in too. Dark shades and those at the red end of the spectrum show up well in strong light, but in shade or twilight they disappear into the background. Conversely, pale colours and the blue end of the spectrum show up really well in low light levels, but are completely washed out by strong sunlight. The garden will change according to the time of day and the weather conditions, which can make deciding on colour themes a complicated business, but satisfying when you get it right. This is a great time of year to visit gardens – large or small (there are lots of private gardens open with the National Gardens Scheme in the summer months). Look at their planting schemes and then experiment. Trying out diff erent colour combinations in pots and containers is a good way of learning what works \u2013 and what doesn\u2019t. Don\u2019t just use bedding plants (although they\u2019re very useful \u2013 and mistakes can be thrown on the compost heap at the end of the season); I quite often plant shrubs and perennials together in pots for a bit, in order to judge how well they sit with one another \u2013 a kind of trial marriage before they\u2019re lumped in for life in the flower bed. Don\u2019t do what I do though and forget to water the pots \u2013 crispy brown defi nitely isn\u2019t the most moodenhancingcolour.<\/p>\n
Jo Arnell runs Gardening Workshops In Woodchurch
\n01233 861186 www.hornbrookmanor.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jo Arnell Now that there are flowers in abundance in the borders (in theory at least), colour becomes one of the most noticeable factors that infl uence the look – and possibly the mood of the garden. There are many theories about how we respond to colour, but interestingly we don\u2019t all have the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-articles","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1352"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1355,"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions\/1355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevillagedirectory.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}