Landscape Design - Project Yellow
Landscape design sales always nose-dive during winter, which is a shame as it is the ideal time to plan your spring landscape design project. What better way to spend gloomy winter days than to look to our gardens for a bit of spring cheer, especially with cheery yellow daffodils already showing their heads. Using yellow in the garden is an easy way to add a touch of sunshine to your outdoor space.
Spring Landscape - 5 ways to use Yellow in your Landscape Design Project
1. PUT IN A POT
This is such as obvious go-to it almost didn’t make the list. Make a statement with an oversized, canary yellow Madrid planter from Modscene or, for the smaller garden, a glazed ceramic ‘Racine’ pot from Morris and James. Can’t find the right-sized pot in your favourite shade of yellow or have some old terracotta pots lying around that could be given a new lease on life? Get creative and paint your own. Use a good quality sealer first, such as Resene Waterborne Aquapel and Terracotta Sealer, then just topcoat it using a test pot in your favourite shade of yellow.
2. FLASHY FURNITURE
Garden furniture, especially seating, doesn’t have to be dull or neutral and a bright yellow garden bench or chair is an easy way to a splash of sunshine to your garden vista. Again, paint is your friend. Whether you prefer canary, lemon or mustard yellow, use a to makeover a tired old piece of garden furniture. Harcourts published a great blog a while back which featured seats in an array of gorgeous yellow tones. The colours used in their photo are Aloha’ (at back), Resene Malarkey (right) and Resene Celebrate (left and front).
No landscape project is complete without flowers and foliage...
3. BRIGHT BEAUTIFUL BLOOMS
No matter the season there will be something flowering in a cheerful shade of yellow.
- Winter offers lemon flowering clivia such as Clivia miniata ‘Moon Glow’, a landscape design favorite for cheering up those dark and gloomy, shady garden spaces.
- Cheerful yellow daffodils are a sure sign of spring and these make excellent bedfellows with grass-like Hemerocallis (daylilies) such as Hemerocallis ‘Stella Bella’ and Hemerocallis ‘Buttered Popcorn’.
- Roses will flower through the summer and fragrant David Austin rose Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ is deservedly popular
- Dahlias are long performing often holding their blooms well into autumn. Check out Dahlia ‘Yellow Star’ – the name says it all!
4. SPLASHY FOLIAGE
The autumn garden is awash with golden foliage so why not make yellow a permanent addition to your landscape with yellow foliage plants that can offer that same impact year-round. Not for the faint-hearted gardener but stunning planting design statements perfect for the low maintenance landscape are the yellow splashed leaves of Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia (spotted laurel) and the spotty ‘leopard plant’ Farfugium japonicum 'Aureo-maculata'. Leopard plant has the bonus of bright yellow daisy-like flowers so you get more splash for your cash with this little charmer. For those looking for something with more understated golden foliage check out Cercis ‘Hearts of Gold’ or in cool climates stately shade trees as Golden Elm, Wych Elm or Scotch Elm.
Landscape for Life : Design for Wildlife too...
5. BUZZY BEES
Entice our favourite fuzzy yellow pollinators into your garden with flowering pollen-filled plants.
Bees and other insects are attracted to flowers that contrast well against the foliage around them, anything yellow will pop against green foliage.
Splashy colour markings in the centre of a flower that provide a visual target on approach, such as osteospermum, are great for attracting bees to your planting.
Bees are also attracted to plants in the blue-violet range, as they tend to produce high volumes of nectar. Just think about how many bees you see buzzing around lavender and rosemary plants. As blue just happens to be the complementary colour to yellow on the colour wheel, it’s the ideal choice to offset your yellow garden accents.
Auckland landscape design company DIY Designs is located in Titirangi, West Auckland and work online providing a range of affordable fixed-price landscape and planting plans to help get your garden transformation underway. We can help you get started on planning your spring landscape design project with the help of our professional landscape designers.
