Friday, August 12, 2022

Adding color to my garden

If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that this formerly brown wall in our back garden...

Recently became an orange wall. 
Shocking right?

Well, not as shocking as this photo...

Ya, that's that same wall back in 2012, a couple of years after after I painted it brown. It's insane how different my garden looked back then. In fact here's a photo taken from approximately the same location as that one just above. Things have become a little "overgrown"...

But back to why I decided to paint it orange...

After visiting my friend Heather's garden last summer, I returned home thinking "I need more color!" Heather is a self identified Flower Floozy so color comes naturally to her garden, and she does it well. I don't swing that way, so I needed to come up with a different idea to incorporate more color. That's when I hatched a plan to paint the side of our neighbor's garage the same orange as our shade pavilion. Their garage is the north border to the upper section of our back garden. Here's another look at the brown...

And the shade pavilion...

A progress shot, there was so much scraping of peeling paint!!!

And the orange after...

I wanted to love it. I was pretty sure I was gonna love it. But I stepped back after the first coat was complete, and, well, I did not love it. I started second guessing my choice. The other contender was something along these lines, the chartreuse wall in Marcia Donahue's Berkeley garden.

But I wanted something that made the foliage POP! I was afraid a lot of it would get lost in front of a green wall.

And since what flowers I do have in this part of the garden tend towards orange, like this, my orange edgeworthia (Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Akebono’)...

Which is covered in these bright flowers every spring...

And these nearby orange crocosmia that have been threatening to open since the day I started painting (do it already!)...

And these, which have been blooming for weeks...

Well orange just seemed like the way to go. 

So what don't I like? Well the brown wall kind of disappeared, it receded. The orange wall makes the space feel smaller. Plus, since the other boundary walls around the lower back garden are all unpainted fences like this section behind the shade pavilion...

They now look naked. The old brown continued the color theme and your eye didn't stop to take in the slight contrast. The new orange is a definite difference. Oh, and yes, the shade pavilion looks a little dingy by comparison, it's going to get a refresh just as soon as I have a free couple of days. It hasn't been repainted since we built it, back in 2009—13 years ago now!

I've had a few friends over in the week since completing the project, and they've all given it a thumbs up. A couple of them have walked right by without even noticing it, so I guess it's not as shocking as I initially thought. 



As for me, I'm still surprised when I see it, unexpectedly, as I move through the garden, and discovering the changes in color during different times of the day and lighting conditions, but I'm starting to love it.

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

27 comments:

  1. It's a big change, for sure. No wonder you're having to live with it a bit to see if it's right. I always have to do that too. In fact I'm notorious for repainting something a couple of times to get what I'm going for -- like my stucco walls, which I initially thought needed to be a bright pop of color, but then realized that didn't work in my shady, non-desert garden. You never know until you try!

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    1. I hate painting, so I rarely do it over, then again I guess I have been lucky to get it right the first time—but you're right, you never know. I *think* I am coming around on this one.

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  2. While I usually don't like the color orange, I love the wall. The plants in front of it sing.

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    1. Yes orange usually does create strong feelings.

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  3. I'm wondering how you got in there to scrape and paint! At least it must feel good to have got some paint on the wall, and now it's ready to roll on another color if that's what you choose.

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    1. There's a pretty good size path along the wall now, I had to cut back some rodgersia that were in the way, thankfully they won't mind and will return next year. The edgeworthia is easy to pull back and out of the way.

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  4. Looks amazing, I think it makes the space look bigger actually

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    1. Thanks! I do agree that it does stretch the space visually from east to west.

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  5. Jeanne DeBenedetti KeyesAugust 12, 2022

    I like the orange wall! It is a great color compliment to the pavilion! Maybe it just takes a little time to "love it"? The brown definitely makes the garage recede. Add some of your found objects/recycled planters with plants in a bright chartreuse to make the other plants pop even more?

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    1. Thanks for the positive feedback Jeanne.

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  6. You definitely need to live with the garage wall longer before you contemplate a change. It's not at all jarring with all that foliage in front of it. I still like the unpainted fenced area but I'd be tempted to put chartreuse cushions on those chairs ;)

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    1. Hmmm... I didn't check IKEA this year to see if they had new color offerings, what if I missed chartreuse!?!

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  7. If you asked me before I saw it whether I would like the side of a garage painted orange, I would have said "no", but I LIKE it. I really do. I like orange flowers, but I wouldn't have the guts to paint a wall orange. I know you don't need approval from "Anonymous", but I think you made a good decision. It's cool.

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    1. Thank you! Sure I don't *need*... but it's nice to get!

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  8. As I already gushed, I LOVE it. It's like a fabulous painting. And in thinking about it a little more, I like the color echo with the Shade Pavilion. Groovy, Baby!

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    1. Thank you! You're so brave with color that if you didn't like it I would really worry something was wrong with it.

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  9. I think it’s an excellent move. It’s such a different wall than the fence that there’s no reason to make them match. The plants really shine in front of it.

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    1. You're on to something there. The fact there is a little gap between the wall and the fence used to bother me, but now it kinda helps announce the transition.

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  10. I like it -and really so little of the wall is actually exposed it's kind of discreet-or as discreet as an orange wall can be ! I think you were right to discard the idea of MD's chartreuse wall-it works well as foil to the bowling balls and a backdrop to a shady side yard but you have a very different plant situation going on there.

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    1. "as discreet as an orange wall can be"...ha!

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  11. I'm not surprised your own response was the most visceral. You know your garden much better than anybody else, and you had a certain expectation that wasn't met initially. I wasn't sure about the orange either, but I loved it right after I saw the result.

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    1. Something I haven't mentioned is my reaction to the flatness of the color. Chalky almost. I tend towards a bit of shimmer or shine, which of course would be all wrong in this application.

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    2. Chalky is what I would want for a wall that's supposed to be a backdrop, not a feature wall.

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  12. I think it makes everything pop and brightens the area. may just take you time to adjust.

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    1. Yes, it definitely brightens things up, which is a very good thing!

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  13. I love it: the plants stand out against it, and once you re-paint the pavilion it will look more harmonious. It may just take you a little longer to adjust. During winter it will be even more pronounced and give you a different perspective of the color change. Obviously, if it doesn't grow on you, there are so many other shades of 'gorgeous' in the paint shop.
    chavli

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  14. Your garden is so inspirational, Loree. Everything about it--the orange wall, the creative arrangements, the amazing plants. Very nice.

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