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Why Not Go Green? Amidst the color riot of most gardens, green flowers are unusual - and unusually soothing.  The daylily Hemerocallis 'Green Flutter' sports ruffled, star-shaped, blossoms with bright green throats Image courtesy "Green Flowers: Unexpected Beauty for the Garden, Container or Vase," (Timber Press, 2009) Take a deep breath, relax and get your garden to go green - literally. Adding plants to your garden that fruit or blossom in a variety of verdant shades can inspire wonder and a sense of ordered calm. "We live in a technicolor world, overloaded by all sorts of information," says Alison Hoblyn, author of "Green Flowers: Unexpected Beauty for the Garden, Container or Vase" (Timber Press, 2009). "A totally green plant is probably the biological equivalent of a black-and-white photograph. It simplifies things." Green flowers come in every season and in many forms, such as herbaceous plants, bulbs, shrubs or trees. They also range from green-tinged white, yellow-green, blue green to darkest forest green. Focusing on shades of green in a garden is a simple organizing principal that can deliver sophistication as well as peace. "It produces a neutral physiological response and can lower blood pressure," she says. The noted color consultant Faber Birren, who analyzed and tracked trends and tastes in colors, considered green "the most American of colors," Hoblyn says, calling the hue "symbolic of nature, balance, normality." "I imagine that's what we're all after in times of great change," says Hoblyn. The freshness of green flowers injects a spring-like feeling, like lime green gladiolus that flower in later summer, Hoblyn says. Added to a busy garden, green flowers give the eye a place to rest. "They concentrate the vision. The eyes isn't distracted from the form of the plant by bright color," she says. Try these suggestions to create a garden that's glad to be green. • Plant a snaking line of green gladiolus through an existing herbaceous border. "The sword-like foliage is good even when the flowers are not there." • Nurture a colony of Paris quadrifolia in a wild part of the garden. "The form of this plant is magical," she says. • Grow lots of Molucella laevis for its unusual form. "They're worth the effort." |
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