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tisdag 3 juni 2014

Red and Black Week, Day 4. Add some drama to your garden


I enjoy the typical english cottage garden, it mixes well with the typical Swedish granny garden. There are two large flower beds with mainly purple flowers in my garden. This year I decided that I wanted to add more drama in, by burgundy and black flowers. It's not easy to find real black flowers but if you combine the darkest ones with contrast colours, they will appear black. 

I already have burgundy Snapdragons (what a lovely name in english). By selecting selecting seeds from burgundy flowers of a mix I received from mum, I'm almost there.
I havent these yet but will get them. The almost black Parrot tulip. They are amazing in real life. No wonder that the dutch rated them to the skies during the 15th century.
Red Patersons curse have a soft red colour. I really look forward to this one in bloom.
One of my favourite flowers is Alumroot. Not very striking but the leafs are perfect to combine with other flowers. The fairylike flowers lightens everything up.
The blackest of them all. Black Scabiosa.
The contrast colour to black is white. Some elements of white is actually necessary in a black flowergarden (or if you prefer, yellow). They will make the almost black flowers darker. Another plus is that you can enjoy the garden in the late evenings when white flowers will light up the shadows.  These Sweet williams are called Caleidoscope and have a 3D effect with the underlying colours.
Pink Veronicas will also add to balancing the bold colours. You can see that I chose different forms, round, discs and spikes.By different forms the flowerbed will be interesting to the eyes and mind.
A purple climber Ipomoea, that in my vision will climb over the hedge (reality is different) .
Here's another selection of what I will grow. Black sunflowers and hollycocks will add hight to the garden.
This is a photo of how it looks at the moment. As you can see the clover and the pansies are already following the colourscheme above.

Well you didn't see much of bright red flowers in this selection right? The problem with bright red flowers are that they are bold. Instead of drama there's a risk you get drag, and that wasn't my purpose. A gothic garden should have a romantic touch to the drama and you will get that by the softer shades.

Maybe you were expecting dark red roses and lilies. Well I love both and I do already have them in my garden but pink ones. To grow a garden is never something consistent, it always change. Some plants will never thrive and you have to look for something else, always that trial and error, while some are litterally weeds. I hope that I will return with a post of my flower beds later this summer.







22 kommentarer:

  1. This is splendid! I would love to have a garden one day. I'm really wanting a little herb garden, so I can dry them and mix my own herbal teas!

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. I also have a herb garden project going on :)

      Radera
  2. Det är svårt att hitta svarta blommor...jag har haft svarta tulpaner, men i "vanlig" modell. Papegojtulpanerna är fantastiska. För ett par år sedan köpte jag svarta stockrosor, det ser ganska dramatiskt ut med de långa stänglarna med mängder av svarta blommor mot mitt vita hus. I år har de förökat sig, så jag hoppas jag får ännu fler stänglar. Dessutom har jag tagit frön och stött ut efter resten av husväggen. Sen har jag en smällspirea Diablo, en buske med nästan svarta blad.
    Kram,
    Regina

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. Åh smällspirean låter intressant :) Tack

      Radera
  3. I like this post! I like this post very much

    SvaraRadera
  4. Those Black Parrot Tulips are absolutely breathtaking!!

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. Yes they are indeed! I had them in my last garden and they are even more beautiful in real life

      Radera
  5. Snapdragon is such a cool name, this flower is named 'lion's jaws' in Polish :D I could also suggest growing hollyhocks in a darkly-themed garden. I remember them from my childhood, they self-planted themselves on most lawns, even under very windows of my grandmother and my friend's grandmother :D Because of this I associate them with a granny garden, as you called it, but they come in many colours - burgundy and very dark maroon among them, very suitable for granny who is also a witch :D They are also super easy to care for; in fact, they hardly need any care besides watering from time to time.

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. They are called the same in swedish as in polish :D

      Radera
  6. With all these newer additions to it, your garden will look amazing, I can't wait to see it. ^^
    Snapdragon, yes, such a lovely name, indeed. In Hungarian, they're called 'gaping' or 'gapers', or 'garden lionlips', but the latter is quite rare...:)

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. In swedish they are called lions gap :)

      Radera
  7. WOW - those red-black tulips are exquisite. I hope you will be able to include them in your garden soon! The black sunflowers are intriguing, too.

    I admire your patience in maintaining such an extensive garden. It must be quite therapeutic, in a way.

    Thank you for bringing the beauty of nature to Red & Black Week!

    SvaraRadera
  8. Spännande! Du får ge oss uppdateringar sen och jag kommer att komma och kika IRL :)

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. Jaa, och du ska få se blommor, äntligen :D

      Radera
  9. They are all beautiful choices! I like that alumroot!

    We had the black tulips one year, but then the squirrels ate the bulbs and we never had them again. Our black hollyhocks always did well, and one year an entire patch of scarlet hollyhocks appeared out of nowhere - not sure how that happened! :)

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. Tulips are edible both for humans and animals and very tasty :)

      Radera
  10. I like to garden as well! I just planted out some lovely dark purple veronicas. My sweet potato vines (Ipomoeas) never flower, the growing season here is too short. I have planted some black calla lily bulbs, I can't wait until they come up! You should put more photos of your garden on this blog!

    SvaraRadera
  11. Underbara blomsterval, jag gillar verkligen de röda lejongapen (?). Själv har jag en mycket vacker blommande Alunrot just nu.

    SvaraRadera
  12. Beautiful ideas for a gothic garden. I too have found it's good to contrast the black flowers with white ones.

    SvaraRadera
  13. OMG, the parrot tulips are so wonderful! I must say You have chosen a great set of flowers for a "dark" garden. I'd love to make my garden look like that, but my dogs destroy it all the time ;/

    SvaraRadera