Make borders sing with Clever colour combinations

Summer is the season of colour, and by choosing your perfect palette – and sticking to it – you’ll give your garden a stylish, put-together look, says Camilla Phelps

- Camilla Phelps

SUMMER is coming, and for most of us that means colour. With so many options for brilliant flowering plants in the warmer months, we’re spoilt for choice, and it’s tempting to have a little of everything. However, in smaller gardens this can look messy and doesn’t make the best use of the available space. For a more consistent look you need a classic colour combination – it’s smarter and more elegant, and with the right plants you can ensure a continuous show of flowers right through the season.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the myriad range of annuals, perennials and shrubs, it makes sense to pick one or more colours that you can carry through in your pots and borders. Purple nepeta and lavender set the tone for a cool, calm look, while brilliant yellow rudbeckia and orange Californian poppies give a more carnival flavour.

Sissinghurst is famous for its White Garden, a restful blend of climbers, shrubs, small trees, and perennials and annuals of different sizes and shapes – all with white flowers that continue throughout summer. And while you don’t have to embrace the look wholesale, white makes an ideal starting point as it will work with any number of different combinations; try teaming it with pink, pale green or blue, for example.

Focal point plants

Once you’ve decided on your colour theme, choose five key flowering plants as focal points. Go for a couple of reliable annuals with a long flowering season, plus a few showstopper perennial blooms to pop up through the summer. Don’t forget to think about texture, height and shape as well as colour.