Three Colours - Blue, Red and White

When I first started creating my garden at Violet Hill I wanted to have a colour theme for the structural components.  The house is white, with red roof - a traditional New Zealand farm house colour scheme (which I think always look fantastic sitting within the green paddocks of rural NZ).   Oh those glorious rusty red coloured farm buildings are a real passion.

I have always been a bit of a francophile and I love blues in gardens - so a split complimentary colour theme formed that consisted of an ox blood red and smoky blue scheme - this wonderful house frontage in Christchurch is an inspiration for how effective this mix can be.  Brings back memories of my favourite french films by Krysztof Kieslowski - trios couleurs: bleu, blanc and rouge.  Blue, white and red being the colours of the french flag and the Kieslowski's films are based on the french republic political ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity.

These images from the blog of Nichole Robertson a photographer working in France are so evocative of the intensity that these two contrasting colours can provide - I just adore them - they seem to have a real vibrancy.

These colours are beautiful together and within the context of the garden and plants provide some real interest and a bit of unexpected fun.

In fact, I have used Resene 'burnt crimson' and 'lynch' as the key paint colors.  These colour themes have guided a number of the features in the garden - including a recently completed mosaic paving feature.

Gates

And more gates

Pots

Shepherds Hut

Archways

Now what I need to plan is a stunning red colour themed garden like the inspiring and beautiful garden at Ellerslie Flower show a few years ago by Sir Miles Warren.