Cute summer towns are a haven for houses with adorable little gardens. They are always tidy and like a properly dressed lady (whose handbag always coordinates with her shoes), the plants often coordinate with the house. Here in New England, you can find all sorts of inspiration for color coordinating your plants to your house in a plethora of summer towns (I’m thinking of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, Anywhere on Nantucket, beach towns up and down the cape, north and south shore and definitely in Maine.
I’m not exactly this type of gardener (or dresser for that matter) – I tend to either a) be too frazzled to try (and instead, I am drawn to the fashion standby of black – yes even my house is black), or b) I try to do some other bigger experiment with my choices (which are sometimes brilliantly successful, sometimes dismally disappointing).
I envy those who can follow fashion rules. (I just can’t make myself do it!) They are reliably elegant and neat and tidy – so I am cataloging some of the inspiration hoping that maybe I can use it in my own slightly crazier schemes.
Here Are Some Suggestions For the Best Garden Colors to Highlight Your House
When it comes to choosing the best garden colors, make sure you think of everything in the garden. The planting scheme is always nicer when it is a little limited – otherwise you end up with fruit cocktail (as my first mentor used to call it). Fruit cocktail gardens are not good.
But you also need to consider the colors of your house and other materials in your landscape. The decking, the stone or pavers—even the type of light that your garden gets—will have a huge impact on how put together the whole view will look when completed. If you are trying to achieve peak house fashion—like the doyennes of cute upscale summer beach communities—these are a few suggestions for color combinations.
Black & White Buildings Love Cherry, Wine and Pink
My ‘cute summer town’ of choice is Bar Harbor, Maine where I spent last weekend. There are lots of sweet houses with color-matching (both harmonizing and complimenting) plants and shrubs to look for inspiration.
On a morning walk, I was drawn to this house. I know – the shot isn’t that sexy – despite my total willingness to trespass for the sake of this blog – but the combo of a crisp white house that had a rich cherry/ oiled teak or ipe colored deck (look at those nice tones of deep burgundy red) and black railings and trim was eye-catching enough to make me cross the street for a closer look. What really took this front garden to another level though, was the Spiraea and the Weigela that complimented the decking and trim and added depth and texture to the whole curb view.
Get the look with:
Big Bang Double Play Spiraea and Fine Wine Weigela or Double Play Doozie Spirea.
Blue House – White Flowers; White house – Blue Flowers
After noticing the first one, I had my radar up for other combos throughout the weekend. An easy one is white and blue (white house blue plants, or blue house with white plants). These were a few of my favorites using mock orange and Delphinium.
I also noted a great combo where an imposing inn with a wrap around porch was surrounded with a sea of hostas that looked something like Shadowland Whee! Hosta. The inn was painted a pale yellow color and the hostas were a perfect blend between the green of the lawn and the yellow of the house. (No shot of this is forthcoming as it was raining and I was driving by in a car and that’s just dangerous).
Feeling inspired on my return from up north, I’ve put together a few combinations that I thought might help, should any of us want to create a perfectly coordinated ‘look’. Yellow, grey and pale green (along with white, which we already discussed) are among the most common house colors so I played with those for ideas.
Get the Look:
Grow Blue Bell Delphinium from Seed; Buy in bulk to really make a big Impact. Philadelphus ‘Buckley’s Quill’ (Mock Orange) Shrub will pop against a blue house.
Pretty Plant for a Yellow House – Go Silver and Blue Grey
Yellow and grey are very modern color combinations, but the Russian sage (with its purple flowers and airy, slightly wild habit) will keep things from being stark. Alternatively, if you have a shady area, try the beautiful grey and yellow foliage of the Hosta ‘Autumn Frost’.
Get the Look:
Russian Sage and Hostas (in a wide selection, including the shadowland autumn frost variety) are available to order online.
But I want to make a quick mention—if you click through on that hosta link, don’t buy the hot pink hostas. I am quite sure they are not real. When internet shopping for plants, especially on Amazon, you can find some gems at great prices, and you can also get scammed. The key is to be a sceptic, and if it looks fake, it probably is fake. We humans know what plants look like—your intuition is probably right.
Grey Houses & Orange Plants
Grey and orange are also a very modern and striking combination that is warm and welcoming. To keep it sophisticated, try plants that feature orange and rust colored foliage rather than blooms.
Get the look:
Ninebark (Physocarpus) has a variety of foliage shades. Coppertina is more orange, whereas ‘ginger wine’ is a combination of orange and red. There are also crimson varieties, and all are beautiful vase-shaped shrubs. Diervilla similarly comes in a variety of foliage colors. Opt for Kodiak orange or Diervilla ‘copper’ (pictured) to get a full display of russet colors and bright oranges – particularly in the fall.
Classic Green house – Red flowers.
Green and red are great for a striking and lively combination as they are complementary colors. A house that is more yellow or blue than straight-up green will retain the dynamic nature of the pairing without suffering the sometimes jarring effects of opposite on-the-color wheel combinations.
Get the Look:
Oso easy double Roses are very reliable landscape roses. Red balloon viburnum is one of a few viburnums that have red berries.
More Garden Color Inspiration
images: Rochelle Greayer and Proven Winners
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Great color schemes, I especially liked the yellow and grey ‘autumn frost’ theme. I enjoyed reading your post also. Thank you for sharing!
These are beautiful color combinations! I might add that with the blue and white especially, the white sets off the blue better than blue alone, especially where plants are involved. Blue flowers like Delphinium against the green of foliage doesn’t seem as vivid as when white is nearby – either white Hydrangeas planted among the blue ones, or a white fence or house as a background. Pale yellow can be an effective foil to blue as well.