colour combinations – We are out in the garden …

Last week we had the great pleasure of visiting the flower gardens at Aston Pottery in Oxfordshire. At a time of year when many gardens are beginning to decline and look rather tired, the garden here at Aston Pottery was bursting with colour and intensity.

The sheer range of flowers and the quality of the blooms was extremely impressive. Many people have reported that the Dahlias this year have been poor in their gardens but there was no sign of a bad year here at Aston Pottery. I was particularly struck by the way the borders had been laid out in triangles giving them both structure and allowing the complementary colours and forms to work well together.

There was no doubt that a huge amount of effort had gone into the planning, planting and subsequent plant husbandry to create a wonderful effect.

Well worth a visit if you get the chance at this time of year.

Location: Aston Pottery, The Stables, Kingsway Farm, Aston, Oxfordshire OX18 2BT

Website: http://astonpottery.co.uk/

It is the time of year when you begin to sit down with the catalogues and start to plan how you want the garden to look next year. Very soon we will be clearing this year’s fading annuals ready for planting out new bulbs and biennials.

It is often difficult to remember what exactly worked and what didn’t and so I have started to look back at the year’s photographs to see what struck me as note worthy at the time.

It is really very satisfying to do this and here are six combinations that seem to have worked particularly well in 2018.

One: Philadelphus and Clematis ‘Niobe’

Taken on 9 June 2018 this picture shows the striking combination of the purple Clematis variety ‘Niobe’ clambering through the fragrant white Philadelphus.

Two: Meadow style

This charming open meadow style planting was at its prime on 2 June 2018. It combines the delicate pink oriental poppies with mixed coloured Valerian (Centranthus), cottage garden blue/purple aquilegia and ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare).

Three: Foxgloves in the rose garden

I would like to think this was planned but the combination of these tall (over 7 feet) Elsey Kelsey foxgloves with the rambling rose ‘Constance Spry’ was striking . The picture was taken on 16 June 2018. Next year’s Elsey Kelsey foxgloves were sown in June and will be ready to plant out in mid-September. I will certainly be placing these charming white and purple foxgloves here again next year.

Four: Nigella, alliums and foxgloves

Again taken in early June this relaxed planting of Nigella damascena, interspersed with Allium cristophii backed by foxgloves worked well. We tend to let the Nigella self seed each year and then thin them out in the spring to create this dramatic effect. It has real movement as the breeze travels through the garden.

Five: Hemerocallis and Clematis ‘H.F. Young’

This butter yellow Hemerocallis is one of our favourites. It is a slightly smaller plant than some of the other Hemerocallis varieties we have. The combination with this almost pure blue Clematis ‘H.F. Young’ works very well at the back of the small garden behind the house.

Six: Pond edge

The final selection here is a picture from the pond edge border. Yet more foxgloves (we like foxgloves!) sit wonderfully well with a large planting of sweet william (Dianthus barbatus), feverfew and the contrasting dark foliage of Persicaria ‘red dragon’. Just visible is the fresh green foliage of the cosmos which grows through to take over as the summer continues. The photograph was taken on 16 June 2018.

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Tag: colour combinations

Full of late summer colour – Aston Pottery and Gardens, Oxfordshire

Planning colour combinations for next year – Six on Saturday