A well chosen background colour in a garden can make the difference between plants that look quite good and plants that look outstanding.
The choice of colour also influences the atmosphere, red brings energy into a garden, whilst softer colours are more calming and restful.
Wall colours can be soft and rather muted, like the one here that I used in my show garden at The Hampton Court Flower Show:
The soft grey/blue was chosen as a good back-drop to emphasise the flowers, and the burnt orange stripes at the top of the wall, contrasted well with the grey and picked up the orange English marigold flowers (Calendula).
Here’s me painting those orange stripes, we marked out the lines in pencil and used masking tape to keep the lines nice and tight. Of course it had to rain, but we were on a tight schedule so we put up a tarpaulin and managed to get it done in time.
Soft pink emphasises the pastel flower colours in this border:
Whilst this bright, zingy yellow wall looks great with the blues and purples and highlights the yellow Achillea flowers:
A rich, deep colour makes a wonderful contrast with white:
and with this grass, Hordeum jubatum:
The colour can easily be changed if you get tired of it.
Sometimes though, a mellow brick wall is the best back-drop you can find:
Why not leave a comment and tell us your favourite colour for a garden back-drop?
Jill
All images: Jill Anderson
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