Here is one dark color that works well with green. Of course, this is a wooded setting without the unsightly buildingscape I have surrounding my new garden. Will a color like this highlight the very view I want to de-emphasize? I like this effect, though I'd prefer a color with more gray/charcoal and less green. This is a rather dark color, but it has a surprisingly reflective surface, which increases the contrast with the dark green foliage of the plants.
Here's another similar color, but with more green. I prefer something closer to charcoal or gray.
Now this appears to be a black fence with a very flat, reflective surface. I definitely don't want this.
This putty gray color isn't bad. Not my preference right now, but something in this family may be an option. It would blend well with the surrounding building colors, and might make them less obvious.
I think the next step is to get samples and paint them on for an in situ test.
I've started a garden fence board on Pinterest (link on right side of this blog). If you have other examples, please let me know.
I love the first colour. It's amazing how much contrast you can achieve between hard landscaping and foliage. I like the putty grey too. But I think my instinct would be not to blend in with the surrounding buildings too much - especially if I found the view less than 100 per cent attractive. I'd be tempted to create something wonderful just for myself. Think of the High Line - one of the great things about it is that it is just so unexpected.
ReplyDeleteVictoria, I thought you'd be in Miami... The prospects for the garden change from day to day. When I got in tonight, I found the new concrete pool complete, and it's quite a bit larger than I asked for. More like 4.5 by 8 feet rather than 3 by 8. And it appears to be about 4 feet deep, though I had expected a depth of 18 inches! So the proportions of the garden have changed dramatically in spite of all my plans. Not a bad thing, I think. Now I have a group of rectangles with a powerful geometry (I think; I've only seen this in the dark.). But the first color, or one close to that, will work quite well with the strong structure of my "surprise" garden (I think).
ReplyDeleteI think it is a bit miffy that u haven't got what you wanted. But that said deep is good with the pond. It all stays much cooler and less inclined to scum which is why shallow pools are such high maintenance!
ReplyDeleteI'm not clear on the look you want but the sharpness of any of those doesn't feel like how I would imagine you'd like it, if u c wot I mean! I thought you wanted to lose the boundaries and vine the fence. In which case I think I would be thinking more sludge than any of those!
But hey its not my brief and I should remember that! Wot a fab project. Best R
Robert, I guess this is what you get when you don't hire a professional designer with a good garden contractor. My contractor is doing the extension on the house, new floors, all interior detailing, and is certainly nor a garden contractor. I'm just trying to squeeze in some garden basics while he has a big crew of strong men who can carry heavy loads, by hand, through the house. And this is the result--a surprise, but one I think I can turn to something I'm pleased with. I'll know in a few months!! As to hiding the boundaries, I'm not sure that's possible. I do want lots of vines, but I'm thinking this is more like my own little island amid a sea of Brooklyn's flotsam and jetsam. (Actually, some neighbors have good trees and even gardens. It's much greener and much more attractive out there in warmer weather.)
DeleteToo late for you but I think it's worth saying for anyone else's benefit: I have a pool 6 inches deep in UK and have no management problems. Keep it dyed black. When we do annual clean is much easier to empty than it would be deeper - and, of course, was much easier to build. Less spoil, less weight of water.
Deletere fence colour - just to say that black is recessive, so not oppressive - it really 'disappears'. See here http://veddw.com/south-garden-conservatory/
XXXXXX
Thanks for speaking up for black. As to pool, I remember the pool saga in The Bad Tempered Gardener. Also, Hellon Dillon renovated her garden pool to make it shallower. But too late for me...
DeleteI know - I admire your amazing tolerance. I once had builders finish one of our concrete seats and have them take it down again in order to move it a foot. It was right! But awful at the time!
DeleteLook forward to hearing what you choose... XXXXX
Not sure I mentioned the pool is 4 by 9 instead of 3 by 8. Unfortunately, this is the contractor for the house expansion. Whatever I ask to be redone will be taken out of my hide in charges for other changes. If I had been wise (and had more money), I would have hired a garden contractor. So ... I adapt. Not sure how to adapt yet, but I will. Perhaps this is grace, and the result will be far better than anything I could have wished for???
DeleteI like the first color too...anything in that charcoal range would be very nice...sophisticated, but not pretentious :-) I know I'm a little biased, but would you ever consider just a very dark stain...sort of "espresso-ish"? There is something so wonderful about that wood grain showing through...especially as it ages.
ReplyDeleteScott, I don't know. I'm pretty sold on the "charcoal range" now. But I really like your fence. Actually wish I could have found something horizontal like yours. Perhaps I need to look at some examples of what you're talking about. I'll check out your Pinterest boards.
DeleteThose dark slate tones have been my favorites for garden structure, for a long while now. They don't compete or clash with anything, but add their own tone to the garden. Greens as such are a bit tricky, they can clash totally, and then suddenly you see a fantastic tone that just completely makes the scene. Putty colours are a bit blah, in my opinion... usually too lame. I like the first picture a lot, but I am a bit worried that the buildings behind will highlight their colours even more behind a dark fence. So difficult to see from pictures only. And what a surprise with the pool, that is a big difference in size. Luckily you don't have to explain it to a picky customer, and I know you will find a way to make it a positive feature in your garden. All the best again, Liisa.
ReplyDeleteLiisa, you repeat one of my concerns--about the darker color highlighting the buildings surrounding. I'm hoping the tree canopy, with six Gledetsia triacanathos 'Sunburst', in a relatively small space will obscure the surroundings, creating a little isolated "island." And a few vines trailing along the top of the fence will help. It does appear I'll need something at the back of the garden to form a kind of living screen in that direction. So some very selective, yet undetermined planting will be in order. Thanks for confirmation on the gray/slate color range. And thanks for visiting.
DeleteI like the first color also. It hs a nice urban deel to it and will also look good with your doors, I think. Once you get the trees in, you won't notice the buildings. I'll bet the bigger pond will end up being very fortuitous accident. Keep us posted in every step!
ReplyDeleteI like that you like the color choice. I hope I can put this one to bed now. I still wish I could figure out how to put in a flowering magnolia, I so love their brief fling in the spring, but so little bang for the time and effort (and space occupied). Will I lose control and get a Magnolia delavayi?
DeleteJames,
DeleteControl is sometimes over-rated(kidding but not really). Don't forget fruit (my Magnolia sieboldii has amazing fruit) and the winter silhouette. Magnolias have a very elegant and graceful branching structure that would show up really well against the walls. Before all the leaves come back on the trees start looking at trees that will contrast the walls.
For instance, Luciano Giubbilei used limbed up Parrotia persica specimens to great effect at Chelsea last May.
Good Luck!!
Michael, I have this image in my mind of looking out from the new room in spring and seeing a magnolia limb, a linear jagged shape, extending horizontally across the top of the view, with magnolia blossoms. That certainly would require severe limbing up and possibly even training of branches. I looked at Luiciano Giubbilei's 2011 Chelsea garden (web video) a few minutes ago, and the Parrotia persicas are beautiful, I have to say, but I also see they are 40 years old. I need something I can achieve in a much shorter time frame, but the idea is a useful one. I remember similar use of limbed up shrubs in a Tom Stuart-Smith garden at Chelsea. Thanks.
DeleteI pinned a couple to my pinterest page under garden. After looking at these photos, one thing I notice is how hard it is to evaluate the color without being affected by the detail, light, shadow etc. of the fence design. --Emily
ReplyDeleteIt is hard. I ordered three color stain samples today. Will get them Saturday and see what I can tell from a test.
DeleteAs I continue to peruse garden photos and think about the choice ahead of you, I am reminded how important is the relationship between the floor surface and the walls. Should it match or contrast? Is there a spacial or aesthetic advantage to be gained by either? Many comments focus on the view up and out of the box. What about the view at the bottom of the box? A contrast there might serve to keep interest out of the skies (or just reinforce the geometry and size of the box)...hhhmmmmm...
DeleteJames my preference would be numero uno.
ReplyDeleteI think the putty grey may defeat the point a bit. If it blends with the other buildings, that suggests it'll get 'lost' in the urban landscape, so the eye is taken to the other buildings. The first grey is distinct from other stuff on the near horizen which would pull the eye to it. It shows off green foliage perfectly, it's also a really nice colour!
Of course there are no real right or wrongs here, a sitting on the fence line if ever there was, your fence in fact.
Anyway, best policy as you suggest, go for a paint/stain swatch comparison.
Sitting on the fence, yes, Rob. I have that problem, hard for me to make a firm decision, always considering alternatives, other points of view. I ordered three samples for a "swatch" test. Hope to pick them up this weekend.
DeleteSorry, I leave for Miami on the 19th (you'll be relieved to hear!). Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert - deep is good for ponds.
I'm not a designer, so this is a very lo-tech, unprofessional suggestion - but I find it quite helpful to print off a copy of a picture of the garden and scribble your ideas on it. Just print it off on ordinary paper, and in black and white. Then you can get a sense of light and shade, form and proportion, without being distracted by colours. If you draw your trees on to it, you'll probably find you won't see much of what's around you.
Yes, I'm doing that. I try to do a graphically primitive design using Excel (lacking a drawing program) to put on the blog, but lot's of scribbling is going on in the background. My new metaphor for the garden is "island," focusing on its being unique and different from its surroundings, most of which will be hidden by the tree canopy, I hope.
Deletehttp://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/modern-wooden-fence-Ipe-Wood.jpg
ReplyDeleteand, in that color palette, there's nothing like COR-TEN steel:
http://www.thefifthroom.com.au/custom/pages/sheok.html
Love the ipe wood, and that fence design. Unfortunately too late for me. I also love Cor-Ten steel but it must be very expensive, and probably impossible to move something so heavy through the house. Thanks for the links.
ReplyDeleteI found this advice on fence color --http://www.andiamolandscaping.com.au/tips-on-choosing-a-colour-to-paint-your-paling-fence
ReplyDelete