”The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.”
– John Ruskin
Today is a big day! Not only is it the first day of early voting in Texas but it is also National Color Day! Woo hoo!!! If you know me or have been following this blog, it’s not difficult to see that I’m a lover of color…especially in the garden. When I design a garden I like to apply the same techniques that I use when painting. I decide in my mind where each color should live on each section of the garden canvas. I actually tend to begin more with color than with height, size, shape or flower type. The special key to proper pollinator gardening, as well, is that you should plant in mass. A solid stand of a particular species of flower will be much more effective in attracting butterflies from high above, for instance, than just two or three plants. Each honey bee worker also only collects from one species of flower per flight, so giving her a nice bundle from which to gather lots of pollen is also helpful. What can I say? It’s important to color block.
The funny thing about a good pollinator garden, though…it keeps changing. Like the Mona Lisa, year after year altered by the master, it’s never quite “finished.” This is largely because pollinator gardens beget seeds sown randomly without any thought or order. But that’s kind-of what makes every spring exciting, you never know where some things will pop up next!
In preparation for National Color Day, I spent a little time in my gardens this weekend capturing some of my fall favorites before they fade away to mere memories. So instead of the usual Morbid Monday series, let’s celebrate a little life today through color! I hope you enjoy my color share as you wrap up your Monday, and I suggest that you get out this week for a while and enjoy the beauty of this stunningly pigmented planet that we are blessed to call home. No need to go in search of the rainbow, folks. We’re living right smack dab in the middle of it. Enjoy!
All the best,
A. J.
RED – Love and Strength
(Blanket Flower, Red Autumn Sage, Ornamental Pepper, Firecracker Penstemon)
ORANGE – Creativity and Determination
(Swiss Chard veins, Orange Zest Cestrum, Tall Orange Cosmos)
YELLOW – Happiness
(Yellow Cosmos, Goldenrod)
GREEN – Relaxation and Growth
(Sweet Potato Vine, Boxwood and sculpture, Oxalis over stone, potted Peppermint in sunshine)
BLUE – Imagination
(Common Dayflower)
PINK – Sophistication and Sincerity
(Zinnia, Lantana, Balsam Flower, Petunia, Standing Phlox, Pink Autumn Sage)
PURPLE – Power and Ambition
(Pincushion Flower, Thai Basil, Gregg’s Mistflower, Indigo Spires, Balsam Flower, Butterfly Bush, Fall Aster)
WHITE – Purity
(Frogfruit, Frostweed, Balsam Flower)
BROWN – Reliability and Warmth
(Overgrown Path, Brick Backdrop, Pond Basin, Death gives Life)
BLACK – Mystery…the absence of all color
(Earth…the promise of color to come)
– All content photos by Amanda J. Schulz
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