Evoke feelings by splashing colour

By Hosea Omole

Of all the elements of landscape design, colour is perhaps the most powerful. Every colour used in the garden adds reasonably predictable effects to the ambience of your home. Moreover, colour sets the mood and to some extent even determines the comfort levels and the perception of space within your outdoor rooms.

Yet many people don’t take all these into account when choosing colours in their gardens. A few of us have a list of our favourite colours, which we splash all over the garden without understanding their overall effects on the resulting environment. But the majority simply leave colour to chance.

Here are some basic effects of different colours and colour combinations to guide you next time you wish to add some colour to your garden.

Warm colours

Red is the hottest colour in the garden. It is energetic and powerful, often dramatic and can be exciting or even alarming. Because of its energy, it is advancing and is perceived instantly, even when present in small patches among other colours.

Orange is also warm and advancing. It is lively and vital, possessing some of the energetic qualities of red, but tempered by the yellow it contains.

Yellow is warm, but without the passion of red. It is stimulating, but gentle and tends to advance when combined with cooler colours. It has a clear, fresh and cheerful character.

Cool colours

Blue is the coolest colour and the most recessive in our field of vision. It is calming and serene, but also expansive and inspiring. It embodies sophistication and elegance, but can also be airy and even ethereal when used extensively.

Indigo and violet contain both blue and red. Like blue, they are cool and receding, but less so than pure blue. The power of red gives them an uplifting quality and they can be quite mysterious.

Neutrals

Green is a neutral colour in many ways. It is neither warm nor cool, neither receding nor advancing. It is soothing and balancing, but also stimulating. Green light is the most easily focused by the eye and so to look at green objects requires the least effort by the ocular muscles. Green also allows the sharpest distinction of contours and outlines.

White is the equal combination of all the colours of the spectrum. It is neutral, favouring none of its composite parts; it neither advances nor recedes and is neither warm nor cool. But because a white surface reflects all the light that falls on it, it takes on the qualities of that light. A white flower, for instance, would appear warm and advancing in the golden or red light of sunrise and sunset, but cool and receding in blue twilight.

Intermediate and mixed colours have combined qualities according to their composition. Colours mixed with white to produce tints show a moderation or refinement of the qualities of the pure colour. On the other hand, colours mixed with black to produce shades emphasise the effects of the pure colour.

Value and saturation

The effects of colour also depend on their value and saturation. Saturated colours and dark shades tend to advance, like warm hues, whereas dull colours and pale tints tend to recede. Therefore, dull, pale and cool colours provide good backgrounds while saturated, warm and dark colours make great highlights.

The writer is a landscape architect.