Contrasts

"No subject is more beset with rules and taboos in

gardening than the use of colour" - Christopher Lloyd

Helenium autumnale

Late summer's mix of hot colours can bring about some interesting contrasts, not to mention outright clashes... 

Salvia greggii putting rudbeckias in the shade

Here in France people seem to love all shades of pink and it's not unusual to find municipal plantings where gaudy pinks shriek alongside bright yellows and oranges: Quelle horreur!

Christopher Lloyd probably would have approved, since he encouraged a daring mix of colour and shape in borders.

If anything, we found his garden at Great Dixter a little too over-stimulating on a boiling May afternoon some years ago. Whilst you can certainly get away with using lots of hot colour in the bright light of this southern climate, a garden also needs quieter passages of cool blue and white to soothe the eye.

Dried flowers of Catanache with
Geranium 'Azure Rush'

Geraniums are indispensible for filling up spare patches and they provide a soft edge to borders, being easy to cut back if they look like getting out of hand.

Every year we are tempted into buying yet another geranium to add to the collection and I've sadly lost track of many names and varieties, although we do make more effort to keep labels these days.

So I know for sure that two of the most prolifically flowering plants in our garden are 'Rozanne' (mauve) and 'Azure Rush', which is seen here. They will be worth dividing in early spring so that we can pop off-shoots into other semi-shaded corners.

A cool and airy shrub

Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora

Something else we were tempted into buying again was Hydrangea paniculata, after enjoying several floriferous years with the variety 'grandiflora' (above), which really is the grand-daddy of them all.

Along the same high barn wall, in semi-shade, we planted one called 'Early Sensation' whose white florets quickly become blotted with pink; and another called 'Limelight' with denser, cone-shaped blooms which have a distinctly greenish hue.

This summer all three came into flower at more or less the same time and really stand out against the stone wall. Whenever there's a storm, they benefit from heavy rain which pours onto them from the barn roof - alas our expensive guttering didn't extend that far, but luckily hydrangeas and ferns don't appear to mind!

Anenome hupehensis var. japonica
- possibly "Bressingham Glow'

Another plant which seemingly enjoys the odd downpour but otherwise survives in quite a dry, shady area is the Japanese Anenome.

They're well-suited to a woodland setting but can become invasive and we spent ages removing the spreading shoots of a pink type which had got mixed in with our beautiful white 'Honorine Jobert'.

However, we love the one on the right here which was obtained from a friend and stays within the confines of a buried pot. It looks similar to pictures I've seen of 'Bressingham Glow' but there do seem to be a range of stunning pinks on offer so I'm not entirely sure...

Complementary Colours

Physocarpus opulifolius with Rudbeckia

As well as imposing some contrast between plants, the shrub form of Sambucus nigra can echo certain hues of red, brown and purple.

It's a useful foil for many flowers but we had trouble finding one in a garden centre last year, finally settling on a stunted, unhappy bush called Physocarpus opulifolius which looked similar and was in the reject pile!

Physocarpus opulifolius

or Purple-leaved Eastern ninebark,
contrasting with Echinacea purpurea

Fortunately our nurturing has paid off and the sad little shrub grew steadily throughout spring, rewarding us with fabulous leaves and stems which really glow in early morning and evening light.

Cosmos sulphureus 'Polidor' mixed

Not so lucky were some of the Cosmos seedlings I planted out a couple of weeks ago to fill our gaps...!

It rained, and of course the snails came out in force to eat anything which looked particularly desirable. Like this sweet little bi-coloured flower from the Polidor range, grown from the Chiltern Seeds selection which I always recommend for their reliability.

I tend to grow 'extras' for insurance, so we still have several plants to mix in with the 'hot' colours of Rudbeckia and Helenium.

Lunch for two in the garden

Summer wouldn't be summer without moules marinieres...!

Butterflies by the Estuary

We came across a host of these exquisite butterflies whilst walking along the cliff edge on a hot sunny day.

I think they're nothing more exciting than the Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) but - as with geraniums - I have trouble telling all the various blues apart!

They have different colours and markings on the undersides of their wings, just to add to the confusion, and of course the males will be somehow distinguishable from the females. It's a real challenge to capture them on camera when they're busy flitting from sea holly to thistle, but here are two of my favourite pictures... of possibly the same butterfly.

A slightly ragged blue butterfly!