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Eye-Catching Combinations: How to employ complementary colors in the landscape

  1. Home
  2. Eye-Catching Combinations: How to employ complementary colors in the landscape
  • By Kim Toscano
  • August 6, 2019
Our garden expert explains how to design with complementary colors.

Color creates drama in a garden, setting the mood and expressing our personalities. Color combinations impact how individual hues appear as well as the overall impression of a planting. By simply changing color schemes, a garden can be transformed, for example, from lively to serene. When skillfully wielded, this tool can yield a dynamic landscape.

Here, we demonstrate how to use complementary colors in the landscape, as well as provide plans for sun and shade gardens below.

Combining Colors

Complementary purple and yellow create an eye-catching combination in the landscape. These colors are opposites on the color wheel, but when used in close proximity, intensify one another. A complementary color scheme creates maximum contrast, which adds stability to a design.

Foliage is our greatest source of garden color. Within just the green family we find a great range of hues – from emerald to chartreuse and grey to olive. Even better, foliage provides just as much variety in nearly every color of the rainbow! And when it comes to purple and yellow, the Southern Living Plant Collection offers numerous possibilities.

Dynamic Pairings


The golden foliage of ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum brings energy and warmth to a garden. Yellow grabs attention and evokes cheerful feelings.

Choose one of the following plant pairings to highlight ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum in the garden:

Backdrops:

Red Diamond™ Midsize Loropetalum and ‘Panama Red’ Hibiscus provide a luxuriant stage of deep burgundy on which to feature the bold golden foliage of ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum.

Underline:


Provide support for ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum with a swath of purple foliage or flowers. Underline the planting with Purple Pixie® Loropetalum.

Texture:


Pair the fine-textured foliage of ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum with the course leaves of ‘Black Ripple’ Colocasia for striking color and contrasting textures that create interest and depth in the garden. Other textural partners include ‘Poquito’ Banana and ‘Design-A-Line’ Cordyline.

Brightening Shade

Yellow foliage and flowers brighten shady areas of the garden. Again, purple foliage reinforces the power of yellow.

Try the following combinations:

Foliage and Flowers:


Set ‘Lemon Lime’ Nandina against the rich foliage of Purple Diamond® Loropetalum and flank with ‘Soft Caress’ Mahonia. The purple foliage complements both the soft foliage of ‘Lemon Lime’ Nandina and the bright flowers of ‘Soft Caress’ Mahonia.

Texture and Color:


For a powerful planting, place Evercolor® ‘Everillo’ Carex in front of Little Black Magic™ Dwarf Elephant Ear or ‘Black Ripple’ Colocasia. This pairing offers strong color contrast and textural juxtaposition with a dynamic result.

Learn more about using color in design in the Color Guide articles here.

Purple and Gold Combination for Sun Garden:

Purple and Gold Combination for Shade Garden:

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Kim Toscano

Kimberly Toscano is a freelance writer, gardening expert and traveler with an eye on design. Kimberly blends her formal training in horticulture and entomology with her passion for design to educate and inspire gardeners.
View More Articles

Related Articles

5 Dynamic Border Plantings

Borders are an essential ingredient in the well-designed garden bed.

5 Uses for ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum

Here are five ways to put ‘Sunshine’ Ligustrum to work in your landscape.

Plants Featured In The article

Hibiscus

'Panama Red' Hibiscus

Hibiscus acetosella ‘Panama Red’ PP20121
Carex - EverColor® Series

Carex EverColor® 'Everillo'

Carex oshimensis PP21002
Nandina
Lemon-Lime Nandina foliage clippings in bright chartreuse green and dark green against white background

'Lemon-Lime' Nandina

Nandina domestica ‘Lemon-Lime’ PP24749
Loropetalum
Purple Pixie Loropetalum planted in a stone stepped wall of a bluff

Purple Pixie® Dwarf Weeping Loropetalum

Loropetalum chinense ‘Peack’ PP18441
Ligustrum

'Sunshine' Ligustrum

Ligustrum sinense ‘Sunshine’ PP20379
Loropetalum
Red foliage and bloom close-up of Loropetalum Red Diamond

Red Diamond™ Midsize Loropetalum

Loropetalum chinense ‘Shang-Red’
Cordyline

Design-A-Line™ Cordyline

Cordyline pumilio x banksia ‘ROMA06’ PP24764
Colocasia

'Black Ripple' Colocasia

Colocasia hybrid ‘Black Ripple’ PP26151

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