Gardens: Lighten and Brighten With Sunshine Yellow
From mellow to far out, yellow plants and accent features can bring a taste of the sun close to home
During the flower-power days of the 1960s, Donovan sang about “being mad about saffron” in his hit song Mellow Yellow. Are we still mad about yellow in our gardens, and can it be mellow? Nature commonly uses yellow, with spring flowers like daffodils, forsythia and primroses, but can we use this bright color without its taking over?
Yellow is the perfect colour to bring warmth into a garden, especially in colder climates where gardeners embrace solar rays. A glowing feature wall in this garden brings light and warmth into the space. The yellow used is almost a primrose yellow, which shines without overpowering the garden scheme.
With much of this garden composed of neutral colours, like brown and taupe, the two squares of bright yellow bring it to life. Beware: Yellow can lead the eye through the garden, but too much will overpower it.
When choosing a color for a feature wall, it’s useful to remember that color changes enormously in different light conditions. In the morning sun, a yellow wall will look completely different than it does in evening shade; it will also alter through the year as the angle of the sun rises and falls, changing the quality of the light.
Check out schemes that use yellow inside the home
When choosing a color for a feature wall, it’s useful to remember that color changes enormously in different light conditions. In the morning sun, a yellow wall will look completely different than it does in evening shade; it will also alter through the year as the angle of the sun rises and falls, changing the quality of the light.
Check out schemes that use yellow inside the home
There could be no better choice of colour than the fresh yellow used for the parasol on this poolside terrace. The clear blue of the pool intensifies the yellow colouring, as the meeting of complementary colours strengthens both.
This simple yellow sunshade blends beautifully with the surrounding foliage. Green and yellow-green sit next to yellow on the colour wheel, which means foliage will tend to blend in with most yellows.
See al fresco seating areas that tempt you outside
See al fresco seating areas that tempt you outside
With a strong colour like yellow, it can be better to plant in swaths or masses rather than dotting plants through a mixed border — you only have to think of golden fields of sunflowers, or the acid-yellow flowers of rapeseed or even dandelions in abundance on a lawn.
The mass planting of the goldenrod (Solidago) here is stunning, especially as the cool grey of the drive brings out the strength of the acid-yellow flowers. The further touches of yellow in the autumnal foliage in the background and the bright yellow potted chrysanthemums at the front door show how different shades and tones of the colour can bring a composition together.
The mass planting of the goldenrod (Solidago) here is stunning, especially as the cool grey of the drive brings out the strength of the acid-yellow flowers. The further touches of yellow in the autumnal foliage in the background and the bright yellow potted chrysanthemums at the front door show how different shades and tones of the colour can bring a composition together.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), a native of North America, is perfect when mass planted, almost echoing the wheat fields of southern France that so captivated the painter van Gogh. He loved to contrast the brilliant colour of the grains against the deep blue of dramatic crow-filled skies in his work.
Ground cover plants can be a great way to introduce bright colour into the garden, and can be especially useful as a marker along the edge of a pathway. Yellow foliage is a perfect choice, as it reflects a lot of light and so will light the path edge long into the evening.
Most people think of yellow and blue as a classic combination, yet purple and violet are equally complementary and bring out the best in the yellow — the coolness of blue and purple contrast the warmth of yellow.
Yellow brings any border to life. Like lights switched on, the flowers of Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ work wonders in the border here.
Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ is a great summer-flowering perennial; its flowers reach 4 to 6 feet in height. It needs to be grown in a moist, fertile soil in good light. If it’s grown in full sun, the leaves tend to droop in the heat of the day.
Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ is a great summer-flowering perennial; its flowers reach 4 to 6 feet in height. It needs to be grown in a moist, fertile soil in good light. If it’s grown in full sun, the leaves tend to droop in the heat of the day.
Perhaps, after all this, you’re still in the majority who wouldn’t rate yellow as a favourite colour, feeling that it can be a bully in the garden, overpowering all those more delicate colours. Even if you don’t want dazzling feature walls or beds of glorious gold-flowering perennials, a touch of yellow, as with this dining set, can set your patio alive.
TELL US…
Do you love yellow in your garden? Tell us how you incorporate it in the Comments below.
TELL US…
Do you love yellow in your garden? Tell us how you incorporate it in the Comments below.