A colourful cutting garden
We have finally had a break in the anticyclonic gloom that just seemed to render the world colourless and felt heavy on our shoulders, the sun has broken through, its much needed. I’ve been thinking about colour in the garden and cutting patch, thinking about what flowers to grow for next year. I like to mix it up a little bit, try new varieties, are there any new colours that grab me? Do I want to try and colour coordinate my cutting patch or just have a joyful muddle of colours? Its usually the latter, I just want to fit as much in as I can in my modest garden. Are you particular about colour matching or does anything go? 
You hear about people who won’t have a particular colour in their garden, usually yellow or orange. But yellow is the colour of spring to me, how can you not have cheery daffodils to light up your garden after the long winter. Its also a big colour for late summer with sunflowers and Rudbeckias bringing a vibrancy to the garden. For oranges I think about the beautiful Geums, that fabulous late spring flowering perennial that are the stars in my garden in May and June. Or the vibrant orange of Calendula ‘Indian Prince’.
Some people go for colour themed gardens or borders, often a very tasteful white garden which do look very romantic and beautiful like the one at Sissinghurst. Or maybe go for a hot border with vibrant colours of yellow, orange and red. I do love these and a great example are the borders leading you in to the Paradise garden at RHS Bridgewater, one of my favourite parts of the garden. Personally my garden is a bit of a mixture I love plants so much that I’m always trying to squeeze more in and sometimes the colour schemes tend to get thrown out of the window.
When I first started growing annuals as cut flowers I was so inspired by Sarah Raven and her book Grow your own cut flowers. That book with the vibrant acid green and pink cover was what started me off growing flowers for cutting on my allotment. Cerinthe, the vibrant orange of Calendula ‘Indian Prince’, Cornflower ‘Blue Ball’, Nigella, Euphorbia oblongata and sunflowers were my starting point and then it just took off. I loved those energetic colours and still grow most of them to this day. A combination from this year of Calendula ‘Indian Prince’ and ‘Sherbert Fizz’, with Cornflower ‘Black Ball’, Cerinthe and Orlaya grandiflora.
There are definite colour trends that are found in fashion, interior design and floristry, I can’t pretend to know anything about the current vibes in fashion and I think the recent fad for all things grey in interior design is fading (personally I’ve always loved a house full of colour and as soon as I moved into my current house, that was painted throughout in Magnolia, the paint pots came out and colour now drenches the walls). But it feels to me that the current colour scheme most loved by flowery folks are more antiquey shades, peachy apricot, dusky pinks, lilacy grey, beige almost. This is highlighted by the popularity of varieties such as Phlox ‘Creme brulee’, Cosmos ‘Apricotta’, Sweet Pea ‘Kings Ransom’, Papaver ‘Amazing Grey’, Rosa ‘Koko Loco’ and Tulip ‘La belle Epoque’.
Here we have my two current favourites Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’ and Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ with Amberboa muricata and lilac Canterbury bells. Delicious!
I have succumbed to many of these beauties and my arrangements have leaned more to these tones in the last couple of years but I also always have plenty of other colours in my cutting garden and I do still love vibrant shades of acid greens, blues and oranges. Here we have the dark purple Canterbury Bells with Corncockle ‘Bianca’, Orlaya grandiflora and the wondrous acid green of Alchemilla mollis.
So when it comes to making floral arrangements colour is one of the crucial things for me. I love the process of combining different colours, thinking about what goes well together. It’s important to combine different flower shapes and textures but I think for me colour is the key. It determines the feel of the arrangement.
You may want calm and relaxing colours, pastel shades and whites are the colours here the more cooler colours.
Here we have a lovely pastel mix, big on Cornflowers, Canterbury Bells and Feverfew with the pink spikes of Astillbe.
Alternatively you may want a vibrant, invigorating colour mix, here you might pick more contrasting colours, often hotter colours. 
Here we have zingy mix of Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’, Larkspur ‘Imperials’, Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’ and Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ and bright acid green foliage of Physocarpus.
You might start with your key flower in your arrangement and build up from that. I had the first flowers of my favourite rose ‘Munstead Wood’ and wanted to celebrate them.
So I combined with some pink Canterbury Bells, Cornflower ‘Black Ball’, the vibrant pink Corncockle, and Sweet William ‘Nigricans’.
Sometimes it might not be the flower petals that are the focus in the colour combination but sometimes it might be the buds that pick out the petals on another flower or central boss of the flower might be the key to the colour combination. The Sunflower ‘Ruby Eclipse’ and ‘Summer Lovin’ both have a dark red halo in the centre of the flower which goes perfectly with Amaranthus Red. Mixed in with Ammi visnaga and the Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’.
The foliage is also a key part of the colour combination. I especially love Physocarpus as foliage and ‘Diablo’ is a stunning dark leafed form. Here its combined with vivid dark pink of Ranunculus and Cytisus ‘Boskoop Ruby’, some stems of honeysuckle that are blushed in pink, with splashes of white from Allium cowanii.
You might want to use shades of one colour. Like shades of yellow here from Sunflower ‘Valentine, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’, Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’, Inula hookeri, Ammi visnaga and Bupleurum falcatum.
My arrangements are all seasonal and sometimes that drives the colours, so more pale yellows and blues in spring. Here the beautiful white flowers of Narcissus ‘Thalia’ and pale yellow ‘Minnow’ look delightful with Wallflower ‘Cloth of Gold’ and lilac Honesty.
Then more warmer hot colours in the autumn. Here we have Sunflower ‘Ruby Eclipse’ and ‘Red Sun’ with Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’, Ammi visnaga, Rudbeckia ‘Sahara’, Cosmos ‘Purity’ and ‘Apricotta’. In the summer almost anything goes as there is usually so much in flower.
Finally a little monochrome combination using Sweet William ‘Alba’ and ‘Nigricans’.
But sometimes you still can’t beat the simplicity of a big mixed bunch of sweet peas!
So there you go some colourful inspiration to brighten up the wintry days, keep us going till the winter equinox when the light will slowly return. Come and join me with planning your cutting garden to bring lots of colour.
Higgledy Anne
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