Table Of ContentThe Nonstop Color Garden
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Digital edition: 978-1-62788-553-9
First published in 2014 by Cool Springs Press, an
Softcover edition: 978-1-59186-605-3
imprint of Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc., 400 First
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Avenue North, Suite 400, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA
Neal, Nellie.
© 2014 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc. The nonstop color garden : design flowering landscapes
and gardens for year-round enjoyment / Nellie Neal.
All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief pages cm
passages for the purposes of review, no part of this Includes index.
publication may be reproduced without prior written ISBN 978-1-59186-605-3 (sc)
permission from the Publisher. 1. Flower gardening. 2. Gardens--Design. I. Title.
SB404.9.N43 2015
The information in this book is true and complete to
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the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are
2014020695
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The NoNsTop
Color GardeN
design flowering
landscapes and gardens
for year-round enjoyment
Nellie Neal
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
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Dedication
To my oldest friend, the dear Kathy Greer, and my
brilliant daughter, LauraClaire, for making me want
to be a better person. As always, to Dave.
Acknowledgments
EVERY AUThOR WORTh hER SALT knows that each design. These gurus and the hundreds of people who
book can only be as good as those who taught her. The have invited me into their gardens have given me an
lessons of color and its emotional power came to me first invaluable education and inspiration. It has been my
from my grandmother, the seamstress and tailor, and privilege to meet and work with amazing landscape
my mother, the runway model. Mrs. Oliver taught me to architects, professionals who were kind enough to
see in line and form and to paint with understanding. share notes with me and invite me to consult on plants.
She showed me the world of classic design through her They are expected to be magicians, to effortlessly birth
voluminous postcard collection. I was transformed by the client’s wildest dreams, and more often than not,
studying under Dr. Robert Reich, for whom the landscape they succeed. My sincerest thanks to my editors, Billie
architecture school at Louisiana State University is Brownell and Madeleine Vasaly, and to their team at
named. he introduced me to the work of Garrett Eckbo Quarto Publishing Group USA.
and to the reality of personal expression through garden
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Contents
n Welcome to your nonstop color garden 7
n 1. Design inspiration gallery 22
n 2. Designing with color 37
Design principles 38
Understanding color concepts 60
Color relationships 63
Color for maximum garden impact 70
Top-down color 73
n 3. Problem-solving with color 77
Shady strategies 78
Xeriscape solutions 82
Winter interest 86
Annual flower power 88
Small-space challenges 92
n 4. Plants for nonstop color 97
Trees 98
Shrubs 124
Flowering perennials 148
Groundcovers 166
USDA zone map 177
Planting chart 178
n More colorful plants 184
n Reading list 185
n Photo credits 186
n Index 187
n Meet Nellie Neal 192
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Welcome to your
nonstop color garden
WhEN YOU WALK INTO a beautiful garden, what do into a year-round garden destination. Your feet are down
you notice first? The temperature drop in a shady grove the path to it in a heartbeat, drawn to its color. When
on a summer day, a fountain’s gurgle, berried hedges on you smile to see the first flowering quince (Chaenomeles)
a snowy day, the abundance of spring flowers? Yes, but of spring or thrill as maples (Acer) turn in autumn, each
time and again the colors in the garden are what you time you feel like celebrating lilacs (Syringa) or beau-
remember long after because they set the mood for every- tyberry (Callicarpa), it’s their colors that touch your heart.
thing else. The power of plants to focus attention and set This book will put them close at hand.
moods with their colors cannot be understated, but not to All the colors in the organic crayon box are featured
be left out, structures and hardscape gain attention here, here with suggestions for plants in every category to
too. Whether they are meant to fade into the scene or enrich the colors throughout your garden every month
create a focal point, color defines their roles: a wooden of the year. here’s a look at what else you’ll find in The
shed is a utilitarian joy but a can of paint transforms it Nonstop Color Garden.
A neat green carpet lawn and a classic brick hardscape set the
stage for this charming border. It displays brilliant use of color to
create form within closely related shades using plants that include
upright delphiniums in mauve, lilac, and deep blue-purple; rosy
flowering onion orbs; pale pink climbing roses; and purple salvia.
7
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About chapter 1
Design inspiration gallery
MUCh OF GARDEN DESIGN is first a broad vision, a but the moods and styles of botanic gardens and
concept for coloring space across the seasons. To be suc- residential landscapes offer wildly diverse possibilities
cessful, the plan exploits that big idea until every detail for your interpretation.
carries the desired theme. In the best of them, a reward- This chapter offers excellent examples of public and
ing design starts as a sparkle in one’s eye and becomes private gardens in the lower forty-eight US states, from
tangible for all to enjoy. Landscape architects and coast to coast and north to south in all seasons. The
garden designers see a year full of color, texture, line, design inspiration gallery will charm, amuse, and show
and much more. They translate their visions into plants you how design elements work together with color to
and hardscape in myriad different ways as you will see make strong statements in large and small spaces. These
in the design inspiration gallery. Gardeners like to be gardens have the wow factor, the joyful, timeless sense
inspired and sometimes can be downright copycats, with of place that each person seeks and too few find whether
good reason. It’s perfectly acceptable to take good ideas the project is a blank slate or the redesign of an exist-
home, even take photos, and then make them your own. ing garden. here are plenty of classic and modern ideas
When you explore a pleasing design, the math to draw on for inspiration in your personal process to
and geometry may be complex or minimalist, yet it’s create colorful gardens from the top down, year round.
always coherent in its own way. The plants and colors fit An old adage says that imitation is the sincerest form
together; their placement and hue has an inherent sense of flattery, so begin with a tour through some amazing
of rightness. You can find fabulous color everywhere, gardens to find your kindred spirits.
Beautiful, exuberant beds use color and geometry to express the
gardener’s upbeat attitude in a rainbow of perennial and annual
plants. By grouping shades together and allowing them to flow
from the ground up, the design welcomes you to stroll, stoop,
and sniff the flowers.
8 The NoNSTop Color GArDeN
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