A dear friend of mine once said to me, “Every garden design needs a bit of red!”, and I totally agree. Still, I find blue to be the more alluring color to design with. A less common color in nature, finding true blue in flower form is a challenge.
Blue walls, blue pots, blue pools and blue furniture in the garden landscape can open up a small space by naturally creating color associations with the vast sea and sky. In a small, urban garden, this is particularly useful as a design tool.
Cool colors (violet, blue and green) appear to recede visually in the landscape. They appear further away than they really are and can make small spaces seem larger.
Interestingly, however, blue has some negative connotations – “feeling blue”, “blue from the cold”, and in some cultures it is the color of mourning. These clues notwithstanding, it is by far the most popular color in the United States and United Kingdom.
Blue is also the least “gendered” color, appealing to both men and women alike. At least that was what F. Scott Fitzgerald thought…
