Dancing Blues

Before

After

It’s so nice to work with a blank canvas, and I’m sure Pat Sutton would agree.  Whereas  Pat uses paints to do her works of art, I work in shrubs and perennials.  The same elements and principles of design still apply to both.

We went with a cool colour palete to complement the warm tone of the brick.  The Blue Fescue Grass is a gorgeous cool tone, Blaaw Juniper has contorted blue-green foliage, the Dappled Willow sports its bluish green and white leaves, and even the Variegated Sedum has a blue cast.  To emphasize the blue, I introduced one of my favourite perennials, Rudbeckia, to provide a bright pop of yellow across the front.  You may think it’s odd to bring a hue that is nearly opposite on the colour wheel, however it truly does draw attention to how blue everything else is.  It’s kind of like how you don’t notice how red something is until you put green beside it. 

Pat’s neighborhood is situated on top a very large hill, and you can often feel a good breeze even on a hot day.  Because of this I wanted to add the element of movement.  Both the Karl Forester Grasses and long graceful stems of the Dappled Willow sway in the gentle wind, almost dancing.