Jewel Colours & Sunshine

In spring the pastel pinks and baby blues of blossoms and bulbs sit gently with the cool green of emerging foliage, but in our Australian summer and early autumn the light is strong and the shadows dark. The intensity of the season demands plants that can withstand the elements both physically and visually; those with some depth in character and colour.

Rich jewel colours are beautiful in the garden at this time of year, appearing less washed out and more stoic than the delicate pastels of spring. Golden and copper tones are lovely with the complimentary colours of deep blue and purple, mimicking the landscape and steely storm skies.

Here are just a few of the mix-and-match jewel coloured blooms I love. They are plants I grow for their rich hues, heat and frost hardiness, and ease of propagation. They’re cheerful, retain colour under summer sun and sit as happily alongside the burnished golds of parched pastures as the coolness of green.

Complimentary colour schemes are those on opposite sides of the colour wheel like yellow and purple, blue and orange. Analagous colours are side by side.

1 Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ 2 Agastache ‘Arizona Sun’ 3 Helenium ‘Julia Holmes’ 4 Achillea ‘Walter Funke’ 5 Agastache ‘Copper Rose’ 6 Achillea ‘Cerise Queen’ 7 Dahlia ‘Home Run’ 8 Salvia ‘Joan’ 9 Agastache ‘Nadine’ 10 Veronicastrum ‘Purpleicious’ 11 Salvia ‘Amistad’ 12 Salvia ‘Caradonna’ 13 Salvia gauranitica

A planting combination I look forward to every year is the electric blue globes of Echinops ritro alongside the orange Leonotis leonurus, deep purple Salvia "‘Amistad’ and the golden grass Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’. Orange and gold with purple and blue are fabulous complimentary colours reflecting the summer landscape.

Bright Blue Nepeta ‘Otway Towers’ with deep purple Sedum ‘Desert Black’ and yellow centred daisy Anthemis ‘Susanna Mitchell’ in the foreground, and deep purple Salvia ‘Caradonna’, tall orange spires of Kniphofia snowdenii, and the low mounding copper of the grass Carex ‘Brunette’ in the background.

Vivid metallic blue Eryngium planum and the deep velvet purple of Salvia ‘Caradonna’ contrast against the copper of grass Carex ‘Brunette’ and pops of yellow Phlomis russeliana and orange Kniphofia snowdenii.

Blooms of yellow reflect the Australian sun in the deep gold of Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ (left) and brighter yellow of the taller Rudbeckia laciniata. The grass Carex ‘Brunette’ retains its copper colour all year, the same colour as the seedheads of the Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) on the right. The mid height tufts of grass Panicum ‘ Autumn Glory’ turn from green to rich red and copper in autumn, alongside the taller bleached gold oat-like seeds of Stipa gigantea ‘Beth Chatto’s Form’ on the left, and Miscanthus transmorrisonensis behind. These warm colours contrast with the blue and purple of Catmint and Veronicastrum ‘Purpleicious’.