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Using blue in your garden

Add a touch of cobalt blue to your garden by painting a fence or garden bench. Image: Thinkstock

Blue horizons


Because it’s a little scarce in the plant world, blue is a colour that gardeners often seek out in flowers. And at this time of year, there’s quite a selection from which to choose, with swathes of hydrangeas, agapanthus, salvia and plumbago flowing through so many garden landscapes. It’s also worth hunting out other less common blue flowering plants, to add a touch of cooling elegance to the garden.

It’s easy to carry a blue-flowering garden over into spring too – think bluebells, grape hyacinths, pansies and polyanthus.

Don’t forget the power of the paintbrush to transform furniture or walls, not to mention pots and ornamental features. Blue is a colour that is always popular, and one of which you are unlikely to tire, as it blends or contrasts so readily. With a bit of creativity, you can find options to add interest throughout the year, from soft pastels through to the colours of the sky, and all the way through to dazzling electric blues.

Blue designs


- English garden designer Gertrude Jekyll colour-graded her borders with blue flowers and grey foliage. She also used blue, lemon and greys in garden beds.
- Landscape designer Luis Barragan used blue walls to represent the sky.

- The Majorelle Garden in Morocco (visit jardinmajorelle.com), restored by Yves Saint Laurent, is cobalt blue as if it’s a living painting.

True colour


Many flowers described as blue are actually shades of violet or purple, so it’s always best to see the plant ‘in the flesh’, rather than rely on catalogues or online pictures. Despite many plant-breeding attempts, so far there are no blue roses – rose varieties such as ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ or ‘Blue for You’, are actually lavender in colour.

RELATED: How to grow lavender

Using blue in the garden
- For a fresh, clean combination, combine blue and white flowers (think of Delft china). Add grey foliage among the scheme to complete the effect.
- Colour opposites on the spectrum, orange and blue make a rich complementary combination that stands out.
- Being a receding colour, blue has the effect of extending the view, so use it at the rear of a small garden to make the space appear longer and deeper.
- Encourage relaxation and tranquillity with blue tones used on garden furniture, wooden obelisks and outdoor cushions.
- Use blue flowers and features around swimming pools or water features to evoke the seaside.
- In areas of shade and low light, combine lemon, white and pale blue to add delightful luminosity to the scene.
- Blue stands out against many other colours, but it can also be used with deep purple or mauve for a harmonious combination.
- As blue is said to suppress the appetite, combine it with high-impact yellow or orange near al fresco dining or barbecue areas.

- Rich, earthy colours anchor blues, while hot-red or yellow will jump out against cool blues.

To get the best blue out of your mophead hydrangeas, you will need to grow them in acidic soil - or add a blueing tonic to the soil. Image: Thinkstock


Brilliant blues

Shrubs
- Californian Lilac (Ceanothus sp.)
- Hydrangea
- Blue butterfly bush (Clerodendrum ugandense)
- Eranthemum
- Plumbago

- Ceratostigma

Flowers and bulbs
- Delphinium
- Iris
- Felicia
- Forget-me-not
- Agapanthus
- Scilla
- Muscari
- Chionodoxa
- Columbine
- Cornflower
- Bluebell
- Nigella
- Borage
- Anchusa
- Lupin
- Echinops
- Eryngium
- Corydalis
- Anemone
- Leschenaultia
- Lobelia
- Salvia

- Evolvulus

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