The colours of my garden

My garden goes through a series of colour palettes every year thanks to the bulbs, perennials, vines, bushes and trees that bloom one after the other. I have given the different periods names reflecting the colours that come and go.

For instance, the first to come in the spring is "Easter Eggs", coming mostly from the crocus, pale blue scilla, yellow daffodils, sky blue wind anemones and snowdrops.

Then comes "Fire & Ice", thanks to the orange tulips, serviceberry and the wild violets that are mostly white, white and blue, violet, and purple.

Follows "Wine & Brandy", because of the pink and wine colored crabs, with the orange, red and purple tulips.

When the weather is unusually warm, though it seems to happen more and more often with climate change, "Blueberry Sundae" comes along, like it is just starting now. This is when the white and mauve lilacs join the forget-me-not, the last purple tulips, the lilly-of-the-valley, the first centaurea and the three shades of blue-purple iris, the periwinkle that has already joined the party for a while now, and the deep blue-purple geraniums that are just starting.

Soon, more plants start to bloom with their own color scheme, like the red, pinks and whites of the peonies, the yellow daylilly, the very orange almost warm red of the Oriental poppies, the yellow allium, the orange tiger lillies, the blue lupins and the still blooming geraniums. Let's not forget the golden yellow of the honeysuckle vine and the double bright yellow heliopsis too.This mix of warm and cold colors I call "Sunrise & Sunset".

Follows "Daisy City" with the wild daisies of course, but also the pale pinkish fleabane, the pink and mauve beebalm, and the start of the very long reign of the gold black-eyed susans and the blue globe thistle that looks like and exploded daisy shooting blue in all directions.

Then the last weeks of the flower season I call "Harvest Gold": the black-eyed susans are still going strong, and the Jerusalem artichoke join the party in September. To add a bit of orange, the trumpet flower vine has been going strong in August and if the Oreoles permit, still bloom till a hard frost during the night puts them to bed till next year.

This ballet of rainbows come and go every year around me and it has been a delight for the past 37 years.