I’m never going to look at flowers in quite the same way again thanks to The Gardener’s Palette by Jo Thompson.
Forget a red rose or yellow daffodil, what you really need to note is the way the red touches on purple or that the daffodil is more primrose than a strident gold. In fact, flowers are rarely just one colour and the secondary and even tertiary tones are just as important. Get those nuances right and you can start to combine plants in a way that lifts your borders from the merely good to memorable.
(I was given a copy of the book in return for a fair review.)
I frequently talk to designers about the thought process behind their gardens, what inspired them and how they achieved their goal. Rarely do they talk about colour other than in the broadest terms. In contrast, The Gardener’s Palette looks at this important element of design in the minutest detail, focussing not on whole gardens, or even complete borders but small plant combinations.
Planting schemes are carefully dissected, with the different elements picked over and explained, not only in terms of plant choice but, more importantly, how each works within the overall colour theme.
The borders chosen include her own award-winning show gardens and designs for private gardens, as well as those by other designers that have caught her eye. They range from romantic pastels through to the bold colours and shapes of a tropical garden.
Each is given a descriptive heading: ‘Boiled Sweets’, ‘Lemon Drops’ or ‘Sunrise’ and they open with a ‘swatch card’ of the colours used within the planting. There are photographs and cultivation notes for the main players, so it would be possible to replicate those combinations that you particularly liked.
Ultimately though, this is not a book to slavishly copy but an education in how to really look at a garden, to appreciate all the colours. Often the most obvious is not the most important. Verbascum ‘Cotswold Beauty’ may at first glance appear pink but look more closely and you will see hints of copper, purple and peach. These in turn suggest suitable companions.
Change those companions, and you can alter the appearance: the pink in Digitalis purpurea ‘Sutton’s Apricot’ is emphasised when it’s next to pink Rosa ‘Louise Odier’ whereas yew brings out its orange-yellow tones.
Hard landscaping elements, such as painted walls, paving or containers all play their part in determining which colours to combine.
The Gardener’s Palette opens with a ‘confession’: “I have never understood the colour wheel.” What Jo means is she has never subscribed to the limitations it imposes – not mixing cool and warm colours, for example, or putting pink with yellow.
“I reckon that as long as you pinpoint the right shade, anything can go with anything,” she tells us and then goes on to illustrate it in her border examples.
Colour is so important in a garden, creating a mood and triggering associations and memories. It’s a highly subjective element of design but one that profoundly influences the way a garden works.
The Gardener’s Palette encourages us to look at plants more closely and not to “abide by the rules just because they are there”.
The Gardener’s Palette by Jo Thompson and the RHS is published by Timber Press with an RRP of £35. You can buy it here for £30. (If you buy via this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.)
Top image: Sherbets by Jo Thompson. Photograph by Rachel Warne
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