Nature’s favorite color is a washed out magenta. It’s the original shade of many plants and the one hybrids will revert to if they go to seed. Petunias, garden phlox, sweet peas, nicotiana and foxgloves, for example, will all revert to this shade. The favorite color of many gardeners is firehouse red, the winner among tulips, zinnias, dahlias, salvia, impatiens and begonias by a wide margin. Orange and yellow come next, then pink, with blue and white, both comparatively rare in nature, last on the list. 

So naturally, come of us gardeners want the elusive blue flower in our garden. Call us garden snobs. Or maybe we know that cool colors recede. When placed around the edges or at the back of a garden they make the space appear wider or deeper.

True blue flowers are rare. We use words like cerulean, azure, cobalt, sapphire, turquoise, electric blue or steel blue when describing blue flowers. Hybridizers have tried for years to produce a true blue rose or blue daylily. Because blue plant pigment is hard to manipulate, Donald Wyman, author of Wyman’s Gardening Encyclopedia explains "Blue, since it occurs in the daylily as a sap-soluble pigment, will be difficult-perhaps impossible to segregate. Lilacs, purples, orchids, mauves we have; and working with them we may eventually get near blues, but pure blues probably never." Recently, some companies have found a way to insert some blue in the center of their daylily flowers but a totally blue daylily has never been produced.

Rose hybridizers striving for true blue have come close by crossbreeding lavender hybrid teas in order to produce offspring having optimum amount of cyanidin, . The results have been more of a silvery lilac or mauve. A blue rose is still in the future although labs in Australia and Japan are genetically modifying the pigments from petunias to produce a blue rose. Their results are not yet perfected and these roses are more of a lilac in color and can not survive conditions outside the lab. It is apparently very difficult to isolate the pigment cyanadin. Delphiniums have a monopoly on it and so far aren’t giving up any of their secrets.

The color blue is calming and tranquil. It is the color of serenity and peace and is said to slow down the metabolism and reduce the appetite. When brightened with white or combined with yellow or orange in a complementary color scheme the results of blue in the garden are breathtaking. The great English gardener Gertrude Jekyll liked to use plants with golden leaves or clear yellow flowers to spice up blue gardens. Just remember that blues and purples are the first flowers to fade as darkness falls so be sure to have those whites and yellows to carry your garden into evening.

There are many blue perennials as handsome as they are durable that we can enjoy in our gardens today.
Some of my favorites are old fashioned hydrangeas and campanulas. Both are valuable in the shade garden along with omphaloides and brunnera. The blue spikes of a long blooming peach-leaf campanula just go together with the white and green variegated foliage of Jack Frost Siberian bugloss ( where do they come up with these names )?

In early spring we are dazzled by our native ceanothus which bloom with deep blue, sky blue or electric blue flowers.  Emerald Blue phlox subulata carpets the ground in spring with deep blue flowers that top creeping stems. Penstemon Blue Springs, a California native hybrid, carries dense spikes of bright blue, bell-shaped blossoms.
 

Now that the weather is cooperating it’s a pleasure to spend time out on the deck and in the garden. Even the evenings are warm enough to enjoy outside. If you find yourself looking about and thinking the garden of your dreams needs a little something more, consider adding color from flowers, foliage, bark and landscaping materials.

Don’t be afraid to play with color even if you don’t get it right the first time. Just learn from your mistakes and make adjustments. Whether it’s a pastel Monet garden or a hot Samba garden you want to create, here’s how your own garden can draw oohs and aahs in every season.

Warm colors , dynamic and noticeable from afar than cool hues which are more calming and understated. Warm colors advance visually, cool ones recede. So to make a small garden appear larger use cool blues and lavenders in the back with just a touch of scarlet, orange or yellow up close for contrast. Do the opposite to make a large space more intimate – position warm colors at the back, cool colors in front.

Garden colors aren’t static either. They vary with time of day, the season, the weather and the distance from which we view them. Also color perception varies among people and not all people with normal vision see color the same way. Since color and light are inseparable, white, yellow and pastels seem more vivid in low light. In overcast or fog, soft colors like pink, creamy yellow, pale blue and lavender come alive. As night approaches and the earth is bathed in blues and violets, those colors are the first to fade from view.

Have fun with color. don’t be afraid to try new combinations. . I often hear people say "I like all the colors except orange". Orange naturally combines with blue as these ‘sunset’ colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. Think how nice bright orange California poppies look with blue marguerites or peach poppies with blue violas. You might not think of linking orange with pink but it’s a pleasing combination. It works because pink is analogous with purple. Try combining orange calibrachoa in a planter with pink arctotis and lavender Silver Sky bacopa to harmonize with the pink and contrast with the orange.

Foliage is a rich source or garden color. You can find plants with yellow, red, purple, blue or gray foliage as well as shades of green with variegated, marbled or streaked leaves. Rose Glow barberry has rich marbled bronzy red and pinkish hew foliage and looks sensational next to coral Grosser Sorten pelargoniums.

And don’t forget white, cream and silver flowers and foliage to brighten up the night garden. White combines nicely with both warm and cool colors so it’s easy to place. It’s an effective peacemaker between colors that would clash if placed side by side. In shady gardens, plants like white bleeding heart, wavy cream-edged hosta, white browallia, white hydrangea, lamium and white calla lily pop at night. Gardens in more sun can plant Holly’s White penstemon, silvery bush morning glory, dichondra Silver Falls, fragrant Iceberg roses and white sweet alyssum and Whirling Butterflies gaura for the butterflies.

Plants grow and gardens change over time. Realize that you’re embarking on a journey that may take many years. Have fun getting there.