RE: Bright colour stains for decks and fences

Well said, Nan.

I live in the Pacific Northwest with lots of gray days, so the pastels work
for the most part and are not washed out by the hot sun.

But we do get the "dog days of summer" (comparatively).  Have you ever
noticed that the flowers that thrive in this type of heat are usually hot
colors as well?   I always plant some hot colors for these days.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nan Sterman [n*@mindsovermatter.com]
> Sent: Friday, January 28, 2000 7:56 AM
> To: perennials@mallorn.com
> Subject: Re: Bright colour stains for decks and fences
> 
> 
> LOL
> 
> Sorry Louise, the problem with theories is that they only 
> hold true for the
> theorist!  If you saw my garden (or spoke with me) you would 
> never question
> whether I am really into gardening.  In fact, I find that 
> peole who are
> interested in more than plants have gone through a "strictly 
> plants" phase
> of gardening and then realize that it takes more than simply plants to
> create a beautiful environment, so they start looking at the overall
> environment, including woodwork.
> 
> Also, you might not realize that the quality of sunlight in 
> different parts
> of the world lends itself to different colors in terms of 
> plants.  In our
> area, for instance (Southern California), many people plant pastel
> "English" style gardens.  To me, those colors get lost in the bright
> sunlight. What seems to work better are more saturated 
> colors, hot colors,
> etc.  So here, bright colored woodwork really complements the 
> landscape
> rather than distracts from them.
> 
> When we restuccoed our house last year, I chose a deep 
> terra-cotta color
> instead of the typical white or beige.  I chose those colors 
> to create a
> dramatic background for the plants.  If you have ever looked 
> at pictures of
> homes from New Mexico, you would have seen how those deep 
> color backgrounds
> make the plants shine like jewels.  That is the goal.  The plants are
> always the actors, everything else is stage dressing.
> 
> Nan
> 
> 
> 
>  >It seems to me that the people who do paint their woodwork
> >these bright colours are those who really aren't into
> >gardening (my apologies to those of you who have beautiful
> >perennial gardens and bright blue fences).  They seem
> >largely to be people who want an instant, designer type
> >garden with maximum impact and very few plants, maybe a
> >clump of bamboo and a fatsia or two.  I haven't seen a blue
> >fence yet that looks attractive, but then if it was hidden
> >behind a lot of the plants that we all love, maybe it would
> >look better.  BUT, the other day, I did see on television, a
> >fence painted a very dark green (a colour that has been
> >acceptable over here for quite a few years).  They put into
> >the borders some lovely perennials and shrubs with red
> >flowers and red leaves and I thought that looked fantastic.
> >I think red and green are opposites on the colour wheel, so
> >that should look good, shouldn't it?
> >
> >Louise, Surrey, England
> >
> >---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> >message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> 
> **********
> '''''''''''''''''''''''
> Nan Sterman
> San Diego County California
> Sunset zone 24, USDA hardiness zone 10b or 11
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
> 






NOTICE:  This communication may contain privileged or other confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or believe that you may have received this communication in error,  please reply to the sender indicating that fact and delete the copy you received.  In addition, you should not print, copy,  retransmit, disseminate, or otherwise use the information.       Thank you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index