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| Rose garden at War Memorial Gardens Dublin |
As it is Valentines Day today I thought it would be a goodtime to talk a little bit about one of my favourite colours to use in the landscape. Thecolour red.
Red has more personal associations than any other colour.Recognized as a stimulant, red is inherently exciting and the amount of red isdirectly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention, and akeen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element.It also increases enthusiasm, stimulates energy and can increase the bloodpressure, respiration, heartbeat, and pulse rate.
Red has more personal associations than any other colour.Recognized as a stimulant, red is inherently exciting and the amount of red isdirectly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention, and akeen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element.It also increases enthusiasm, stimulates energy and can increase the bloodpressure, respiration, heartbeat, and pulse rate.
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| Iconic Red Bridges a common sight in Japanese and Chinese gardens Photo by john tovey |
Red encourages action and confidence and represents beautyin many languages and cultures.
In Chinese culture, colours corresponded with the fiveprimary elements, the directions and the four seasons. Red was associated withfire, south, and summer.
In Japan, the colour red is associated closely with a fewdeities in Shinto and Buddhist traditions, so statues of these deities areoften decked in red clothing or painted red.
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| Red Reed Bamboo Forest. Sculpture by Dale Chihuly. Photo by Jeff Hamm |
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| Red Door. Photo by Floren Arocena |
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| Harbour Lighthouse, Howth, Co. Dublin. |
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| Photo by Glynn Williams from proyaltypics.com |
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| Japanese Maple. Photo by David-Yu |
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| Red ribbon park photos by Kongjian Yu and Cao Yang |
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| Photos & Stonework by Matthew Reilly of Country Landscapes |
Red is the highest arc of the rainbow.
Red is the first colour you lose sight of at twilight.
The longest wavelength of light is red.
In the financial arena, red symbolizes a negative direction.
Feng shui recommends painting the front door of a home redto invite prosperity to the residents.
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| Iconic red phone box in London |
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| photo by Craig Richardson |
Red is considered a warm colour in landscape design. Its appearance in the garden has an energetic effect. Red flowers and foliage give the illusion of coming forward in the landscape, helping to make a large garden feel cosier.Red plants attract the eye and are a good choice for areasyou want to draw attention to. Red's complementary colour in the garden is green,but can also look great with colours like yellow.
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| Ooma in a red bucket before the black-eyed susans. Photo by Shannon Ross-Albers |
Planting Red. Below are a few of my favorite reds for the garden:
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| Photo by Bluesrose |
* Acer palmatum 'Osakazuki' * Hemerocallis ‘Daylily’ * Fuchsia magellanica 'Riccartonii'
* Callistemon ‘bottle brush’ * Canna ‘red king humbert’ * Lobelia fulgens ‘QueenVictoria Lobelia’ * Dwarf Chenille Firetail ‘Acalypha reptans’ * Flame Creeper ‘Tropaeolum speciosum’ * Parthenocissus Quinquefolia * Chilean Flame Creeper ‘Tropaeolum speciosum’ * Bergenia ‘bressingham ruby’ * Photinia ’red robin’ * Japanese Blood Grass ‘Imperata rubra’ Red Baron * Carpet Rose, Scarlet * Salvia 'Lady in Red' * Red-twig dogwood ‘Cornus alba’ * Crocosmia masoniorum ‘Lucifer’ lucifer montbretia * Lychnis chalcedonica maltese cross * Rhododendron ‘Elizabeth’ rhododendron * Schizostylis coccinea ‘Major’ kaffir lily * Zinnia elegans ‘Dreamland Series’zinnia.
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| West Cork's iconic Fuchsia magellanica on the drive up to Hagal Farm |
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| The Dead Red Tree by Irish Landscape Designer Peter Donegan |
In his blog, Landscape Designer and garden blogger Peter Donegan had a great solution to doing something about that 'old dead tree that you never got round to cutting down' and turned a dead tree into a great focal point in the planting bed by simply grabbing an old tin of outdoor wood paint from the garage and painting it red.
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| A 3D garden design I did incorporating a red feature wall |
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| Photo by Julie Therré |
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| Red Door by McCarthy's PhotoWorks Garden Door by pearson_251 Red doors: I love you. Feng shui recommends painting the front door of a home red to invite prosperity to the residents. |
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| The red catwalk in Irish Landscape Designer Tim Austen's 'The Growise Garden' at the 2011 Bloom Garden Show |
A good example of how effective red can be in landscape design is Tim Austen's 'The Growise Garden' at the 2011 Bloom Garden Show In his blog, he talks about the eye catching catwalk in his design:
"Alluding to the landscape change theme present in the garden, the boardwalk deliberately cuts across the center of the garden and is metaphorically a landscape fissure when the garden is viewed as a whole. Its linear form also provides contrast with the other flowing forms and shapes used.
I deliberately chose the "Movie-Star" red colour to provide a strong colour contrast with other natural tones and textured finishes used in the garden. The paint used in the boardwalk is Irish made (in Celbridge) by the really helpful people at ColorTrend and is water based so it is an environmentally friendly paint. Apparently, pilots of planes passing overhead en route from Dublin Airport could pick out the boardwalk quite easily"
You can Tim's full blog post here
As it is Valentine's Day today I must also share my appreciationfor my wonderful wife, who makes me happy every single day I am with her.Without her love and support I would not be the man I am today. Also withouther, you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog either, as she edits all my blogposts, deciphering my poorly spelled, poorly structured words into legible blogposts.
Thanks to everyone who contributed photographs to this post! Please take a moment to check out their pages by clicking on the links provided.
Thanks to everyone who contributed photographs to this post! Please take a moment to check out their pages by clicking on the links provided.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone.
