How Can I Use Color to Influence the Mood of My Landscape? - Ask BrightView

 

Ask BrightView: Episode 23

Colors can influence a person's mood, and it's no different with the colorful flowers you plant in your landscape. BrightView Horticulturist Bruce Hellerick discusses the colors, how you should and shouldn't mix them, and what mood the colors evoke.

(For the full transcript, see below.)

Get the Answer

Do you have a question you'd like to submit for "Ask BrightView," such as how to cut stripes into your lawn or how to creating a waterfall hanging basket?

Tweet us your question using the hashtag #AskBrightView for a chance to have it answered in an upcoming episode.

Video Transcription

How can I use color to influence the mood of my landscape?

BRUCE HELLERICK, expert:

Color in the landscape is really important to everybody and today, I have put together a collection of different colors to talk about.

Color can set the mood in any garden:

Whites

We have white over here. White is a really pure color and a really bright color, but in many ways, it's a non-color. Out in a real sunny area, I wouldn't use white. I would only use white in a dark area where you are trying to brighten up that particular space. Also, if you are going to be mixing colors and you are going to add white to that, don't add anymore than 5 percent of white in any mix. The white will overpower the other colors as the plants begin to grow.

Dark Colors

Likewise, be careful of really dark colors. This is a beautiful velvety-purple type of color, but when put in a landscape, it really becomes a black hole and you can't even see the color.

Pastels

When you come to pastel colors, again, it's a little bit like the whites. Use them in darker areas where you want to brighten up the space.

Yellows

Then you can come to some of the real bright yellows that we have here. This is a real cheery color and welcoming. It's good to put at entrances and in containers on patios.

Blues

Then you have the blues. These will give you a more calming effect. You can have darker blues, to some lighter blues, and two-tone blues.

Reds

Then you have your reds. You have the red of a pansy right here, or a different color red of a ranunculus. All of these are warmer colors, exciting, and also romantic.

So today, we've looked at many different colors. Pick a color that is going to create the mood that you want to have in your garden.