Ready to use color theory landscape design tips
Let us understand warm and cool colors. Warm colors are exciting and energizing while the cool colors are relaxing.
Red, yellow, and orange and warm colors. Blue, green, and purple are cool colors. But, the same color can also have warm and cool undertones.
Whenever you plan a design for your garden, the color undertones should no clash.
To discover more about how color undertones work, click here.
Color Harmony
Color harmony makes a design pleasant. If your color palette is too bland then it will lose its visual appeal. If it is too bright and vibrant, it will stimulate the viewer too much.
Color wheel tips for color harmony
Monochrome
Take a look at the color wheel. You could go for a monochrome of green. Then you have to choose different saturations and brightness of green.
Mix some white, black, or grey into pure green when you plan your color palette. Let the dark colors make up the background and the bright colors be in the foreground.
Analogous colors
In the color wheel, the colors are 30 degrees apart from analogous colors.
Complementary colors
Colors opposite to each other on a color wheel are complementary colors.
Make an equilateral triangle on the color wheel. You will get three colors. These colors are triadic colors.
Tetradic colors
On a color wheel, make a square, you get four tetradic colors.
Warm and cool colors in a small garden
If you own a small garden or a balcony to plant trees then color theory could make it look larger. Here’s how.
Warm colors appear to come closer to the viewer. Cool colors appear to recede away from the viewer.
If you plant red, yellow, or orange flowers in the foreground then they will appear to come closer to you.
And, if you plant violet or deep blue flowers in the background then they will appear to recede from you.
You will get an illusion of depth. Moreover, the use of warm and cool colors creates balance and harmony.
Unity vs Contrast
If you want a place to relax then stick to the cool colors. It means you want to create unity. Or, you could use warm colors with cool undertones. Like red is a warm color but magenta has a blue bias. So, you could have variety and unity at the same time.
If you want a place to energize you then stick to warm colors. It too means you choose unity. Or, use colors with warm undertones. Like purple is a cool color with a warm undertone when it has more red in it.
What to do with the greens? Green is a transition color. You mix yellow (warm color) with blue (cool color) to get green. So, you could choose your greens according to whether you want an energetic or a calming garden.
If you choose both warm and cool colors then you create contrasts. It is also perfect if you choose your color palette with balance.
Neutral colors
Neutral colors are white, black, grey, creams, and browns. They do not show up on the color wheel. They are neither warm nor cool. But, you could design a garden with neutral colors.
A garden with white flowers and dark green leaves would lighten up any night party.
Then neutral colors like white too can have different undertones. When you choose your whites, make sure the undertones do not disagree.
Stick to either warm or cool undertones to create harmony.
Cool colors for a relaxing Zen garden
Stick to the cool blue colors. Add a fountain or a Buddha statue. The blue and bluish violets are the keys if you want to design a relaxing Zen garden.
The color intensity in landscape design
When you use pure colors, you get high intensity or brightness. If you place two intense colors close to each other then the garden looks more vibrant.
If you want to mute down colors then place the muted versions of colors. You can mute a color by mixing white, black, grey, or its complementary color to it.
The contrast in landscape and garden design
If you want to create contrast then place two colors of very different values close to each other. If you are planning monochromatic gardens then it is the key to producing contrast.
Seasonal landscape and garden design
The season is the canvas. The seasons control the light intensity. If the light intensity is low then no matter what colors you use, they will have cool undertones. So, choose cool colors so that there is no disagreement between the color and the canvas.
Contrary to it, if the light intensity is high then all colors will have warm undertones. So, choose warm colors. Notice the effect of the sunrise and the sunset on your walls. They add warm undertones.
Similarly, the moonlight adds a cool undertone. Winter too adds a cool undertone.
Conclusion
Loved what you read? Follow me on Medium.
If you want all my colour theory blogs then click here.
Email me at subarnacreative@gmail.com.
