Choosing a Color Scheme for Your Yard

Choosing a Color Scheme for Your Yard

Before you find the flowers – you need to consider color! And the fashion world could be your best guide.

Raili Nieznanski with Estrada Farms shares how to pick a color scheme for your yard.

You know how you drive or walk around your neighborhood and you see those homes with the perfect yard? The yard to die for? Obviously, they must have had a licensed professional landscape designer choose all the right plants because it looks fabulous and you are green with envy. Why doesn’t your yard look that good?

Well….it can. And it’s not that hard either. The basic principles of design that are used in home décor or even fashion design can be applied to your landscape choices. And the design element with the biggest instant impact is COLOR. A consistent color story helps to unify your space. Your yard becomes more visually appealing. It has that “wow” factor. You get curb appeal. From your trees and shrubs, to your perennials, to annuals, there are lots of color choices. How do you choose the right ones?

The color wheel can help.

Here are some basic color ideas from the color wheel:

COLOR SCHEMES

Triadic Colors

red, yellow, blue

orange, purple, green

blue violet, red orange, yellow green

Complementary Colors

red/green

orange/blue

yellow/purple

hot/cool

dark/light

Analogous Colors

two, three, or four colors next to each other on the wheel

Monochromatic Colors

various shades and variations of one hue

Hot or Cool Colors

all warm colors, or all cool colors

Neutrals

focusing on texture and variations of dark and light rather than color

Which color scheme should you choose? One great source of color inspiration is the world of fashion.

Every year Pantone, the fashion industry’s leading color trend forecaster, picks THE colors for the coming season. They even go so far as to pick THE color of the year. Well, you don’t have to keep all that gorgeous color hiding in your closet. Here are Pantone’s colors for Spring 2011.

NOTE: In a garden, green is the neutral. Everything goes with green.

Below are some plant suggestions that fit the Pantone colors for Spring 2011. Don’t be afraid to make some bold choices. The key to a consistent and balanced look is repetition. Repeat the same colors in trees and shrubs, perennials, annuals, and even in your garden art and pots.

HONEYSUCKLE

Guara (Belleza Dark Pink)

Amaranto (Joseph’s Coat)

English Daisy

Cuphea (Angelface Pink, Flamenco Tango)

Heuchera Coral Bells (Bressingham Hybrid)

Argyranthemum

Calibrachoa (Aloha Hot Pink)

Calla Lily (Garnet Glow)

Petunia (Potunia Lobster)

Monarda Bee Balm (Marshall’s Delight)

Weigelia (Florida Minuet)

CORAL ROSE

Sphaeralcea Munro Globemallow

Gerbera Gerber Daisy

Calibrachoa (Aloha Hot Orange)

Geranium (Maverick Orange)

Gerbera “Gerber” Daisy

Lantana (Desert Sunset)

PEAPOD

Flax foliage

Iris foliage

Hosta foliage

Sedum “Vera Jameson”

Carnation foliage

Elijah Blue Fescue

BEESWAX

Golden Edge Euonymous

Coreopsis (Nana)

Gaillardia

Zinnia (Dreamland Yellow)

Osteospermum (Peach Symphony)

Cala Lily

Cantana

Gazanias

Columbine

SILVER PEONY

Petunia (Super Cascade Blush)

Supertunia (Vista Silverberry)

Aethionema Persian Stonecress

Baby’s Breath

Geranium (Apple Blossom)

Euphorbia (Breathless Blush)

Argyranthemum (Fireball Red, Comet Pink)

RUSSET

Hibiscus (Maple Sugar)

Sweet Potato Vine (Sweet Georgia Bronze)

Toffee Twist Sedge

Firecracker Fountain Grass

Sedum (Postman’s Pride)

Solenostemon (Alabama Coleus)

REGATTA

Truly blue flowers or foliage, especially blue-green flowers, are almost impossible to find. They all tend towards lavender. If you want to incorporate this color into your yard, consider pottery, painted furniture, and other yard art.

BLUE CURACAO

LAVENDER

Lavender

Salvia (Blue Hill)

Catmint

Flax

Nemesia

Heliotrope

Jacobs Ladder

Angelonia (Spreading Blue)

Nierembergia (Blue Eyes Cupflower)

Petunia (Ultra Sky Blue)

Ageratum (Blue Danube)

Pincusion Flower (Butterfly Blue)

Turkish Veronica

Catalina

SILVER CLOUD

Dusty Miller

Baby’s Breath

Cerastium “Snow in Summer”

Artemesia

Cape Blanco Sedum

Helichrysum (White Licorice)

Marrubium (Silver Heels Horehound)

Estrada Farms is a retail nursery and garden shop catering to the home gardener and do-it-yourself home landscaper. In addition, we offer special pricing for landscapers and other commercial projects. Whenever possible, our plants and hard goods come from local Utah growers and businesses. We support Utah first and are a member of Local First Utah.

Our unique location in the center of a growing residential area provides us with unique opportunities and responsibilities. Besides providing a variety of high-quality plant and gardening products and services to our friends and neighbors, we want to offer our location as the center for community events and activities.

Date Night at Estrada Farms offers a discount to groups of 30 or more and allows private access either an hour before or an hour after closing.

Neighborhood HOA groups, church groups, clubs, and other groups can benefit from this group discount.

Estrada Farms Community Garden allows those living in condos or apartments the opportunity to garden as a family and enjoy the fresh, home-grown produce not usually available to them.

We are working on gathering together local Utah farmers for a truly local Utah Farmers’ Market that focuses on locally grown produce rather than crafts and concessions.

In the fall we intend to offer a Pumpkin Patch including other fun fall activities for families at a reasonable price.

Winter activities will include music events and outdoor winter recreation.