One of the most exciting elements in garden design is colour. Whether it is the cool and calm palette of whites and greens; a garden that sings with zingy oranges and purples; romantic pinks; or passionate reds – there is a colour for everyone.

What is Colour?

It is interesting to think about what colour actually is. What we see as a colour is an interpretation of how our mind responds to the play of waves and particles that are all around us. Think not so much of something ‘being’ a colour, but of it ‘doing’ a colour. When light shines on an object, be that a leaf… or a tomato, it causes it to rearrange its atoms. It shimmers and vibrates as if it were engaging in a dance.

White light consists of all colour wavelengths. The iconic Pink Floyd album cover demonstrates this well, showing light that splits when refracted through a prism. When sunlight (white light) falls on a tomato, the dance causes it to absorb most of the blue and yellow light and reject the red, which is the colour that reaches our eye. This presents us with the paradox that a ‘red’ tomato actually contains every wavelength except red! And a week before, when the atoms were doing a slightly different dance, absorbing red and rejecting the rest, we would have seen the tomato as green.

Seek Colour

Throughout history, colour has been prized and sought after. Pigment for paints have travelled the globe, with some valuing almost as much as gold.

Colours are imbued with meaning throughout our diverse cultures. In China, red signifies luck, prosperity, and happiness; whilst in the Middle East, blue symbolises spirituality and immortality; further West, purple conveys status and honour.

We feel colour at a deep level – bright zingy colours that energise us, cool colours that relax us, and a whole paintbox in between. There is now growing evidence that surrounding ourselves in ‘greenery’ is good for our health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally.

A Garden of Colour

So, how can we harness the power of colour in our garden design? Start with the colour wheel, a very useful tool that helps us to select colours that go well with one another: colours that are in harmony, or those that are dynamic and contrasting.

Colour really does bring a garden alive, and the beauty about plants is that they create change throughout the seasons. Sunny yellow daffodils in spring make way for purple aquilegias, then pink Japanese anemones as the summer progresses.

For a true blue, it has to be a Ceanothus. A lovely evergreen shrub with flowers that remind me of Liquorice Allsorts. Not to be eaten though, leave these for the bees, who absolutely love them!

How about the zingy orange of Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ or the red of Acer palmatum, with its leaves that turn a fiery glow in the autumn? Colour can come through foliage too.

It is hard to beat the cheery little flowers of Dianthus ‘Pink Kisses’. I love these so much that they have graced every one of my show gardens, and even came with me to Scone Palace Garden Fair when I was invited as a guest speaker. They look brilliant in pots!

Of course, we cannot forget the wonder of white. With Rosa ‘Desdemona’, which has the added bonus of being beautifully scented too.  And for something elegant, you could try Clematis ‘Princess Kate’, with its delectable white and pink combination.

Whatever your preferred colour palette, injecting colour really lifts a garden, and creates a space you can enjoy and that makes you smile.

Designer and Director of Lynn Hill Garden Design, Lynn loves creating wonderful green spaces. She has been honoured with many awards, and has contributed to Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Flower Show, and worked with the BBC as design consultant for Beechgrove Garden.

Green spaces can be sanctuaries that nourish us, inspire us, and even heal us. Lynn encourages us to view our gardens as an extension of our home and embrace the benefits they bring to our health and wellbeing.

A member of the Scottish Ecological Design Association and the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, Lynn has a 1st Class Honours Degree in Community Education from Edinburgh University, and an HNC with Distinction in Garden Design.

You can follow Lynn on Instagram for more chat or find lots of professional garden design inspiration on her website.