Pink and khaki inspiration for a soft and trendy garden

Autumn inspiration in pink and khaki

Autumn brings its share of changing colours, in foliage and flowering. Some flowers see their calyx colour or their petals evolve into faded tones. A few leaves, by becoming pigmented with yellow or pink, take on a khaki hue. The Abelia, offering one of the longest flowerings in the garden, is among those plants that take on this surprising khaki appearance while its white to pink flowering is not yet finished.

By surrounding it with a few carefully chosen plantings, featuring white or pink flowers, we play on these radiant shades that gently usher us into autumn: a Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Etoile Violette’ for its double flowers, a Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’ whose beautiful white panicles gradually wash to pink, and foliage of coppery green.

A Pseudowintera colorata (Drimys), evergreen, finds its place in the bed with its small, very colourful leaves changing with each season. A few Sedums enhance the space with their beautiful, long, and generous flowering in September, often lasting until October. You can also include in this bed some slender, golden foliage as the season progresses, such as a Sesleria automnalis or several clumps of Carex testacea with golden to coppery reflections in October. Finally, several Saxifraga fortunei ‘Wada’ will bring back the khaki note as groundcover.

To animate the area in spring, a few Tiarella cordifolia ‘Pink Skyrocket’ conquer the bed with their powdery tones of pink and white. In sufficiently cool soil, an Indian rhubarb, Darmera peltata, will brighten the ground with its pink flowering and will take on a superb golden to coppery foliage from late summer to autumn. This bed is suitable for sunny or lightly shaded exposure.

Abelia, Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Etoile Violette’, Sedum ‘Matrona’, Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen’ and Pseudowintera colorata

A woodland atmosphere

Nothing beats ferns for adding a khaki touch to the garden: some, like the Dryopteris erythrosora, display almost caramel hues at the bud burst period, tinged with coppery pink, while others, such as Dryopteris filix mas, Pteridiums, or Adiantums, turn a lovely russet in autumn with their orangey-pink croziers… These plants can create a remarkable backdrop to host some pastel pink flowers, softening and brightening a slightly shady corner of the garden.

Plant several species for a beautiful mass effect, and complement a sufficiently cool and shaded bed at the base of deciduous trees or at the edge of woodlands with Rodgersia podophylla, which have stunning bronze-green shoots in spring and will turn orange in autumn. They will provide a lovely creamy, paniculate, very airy flowering in summer. To precede this display, bulbs of Ipheion uniflorum ‘Charlotte Bishop’ will awaken the area with a faded pink, slightly mauve, and will bloom for several weeks. In mid-summer, the Rodgersias will be accompanied by some Tiarellas in very soft colours, mixed pink and white like the Tiarelle ‘Morning Star’. Finally, a carpet of Pink Naples Cyclamen (also known as Cyclamen hederifolium), planted close to the trees or spilling onto a lawn, will conclude the season with the appearance of its delicate pink flowers between August and October, followed by its marbled white foliage.

All these faded colours also pair well with one or two glaucous hostas to instil a very soft contrast (like the Hosta ‘Bressingham Blue’).

Tiarella ‘Pink Skyrocket’, Dryopteris erythrosora, Rodgersia podophylla, and Cyclamen hederifolium

A flowerbed with unique spring colours

Red is considered the perfect match for green on the colour wheel, but with a yellowed green like khaki, pink is a combination that is both subtle and fresh. While spring is an explosion of foliage and colours in the garden, it can be given a nuanced colouring in a flowerbed, with faded pinks, such as old rose bordering on mauve, and a few more powdery pinks, even a candy pink or a sweet pink. These shades will pair well with foliage unfurling in bronze or slightly coppery hues like some Physocarpus.

In this example, we bring together a pink-flowering viburnum with a layered habit, the Viburnum plicatum ‘Pink Beauty’, a Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Amber Jubilee’ with foliage tinged with yellow and orange, the Parrot Tulip ‘Greenwave’, delicate and refined in a bicolour of green and pink, and a few bulbs of Persian Fritillary ‘Ivory Bells’. It’s a festival of soft shades between April and May. One or two Weigela enhance the rustic feel by interspersing, such as Hybrid Weigela ‘Carnaval’ and another blooming in summer like Weigela kosteriana ‘Variegata’. In this shrub bed, a Cornus kousa ‘Satomi’ with pink flowers and a climbing plant like Akebia with cream flowers also make a stunning impression!

Viburnum plicatum ‘Pink Beauty’, Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Amber Jubilee’, Fritillaria Persia ‘Ivory Bells’, Parrot Tulip ‘Greenwave’ and Weigela kosteriana ‘Variegata’

An exotic setting

One often thinks of bold and bright colours like red or orange inflorescences in an exotic setting. Pinks in salmon or coral shades work very well here, and when paired with khaki greens, accented with yellow, pink, or sometimes orange, the result is both surprising and very elegant. Here too, subtle touches of bluish green in the foliage enhance the overall effect.

A beautiful architectural and linear foliage like Phormium tenax, whose varieties often display greens striated with colours reminiscent of khaki, stands out in the bed: for example, Phormium ‘Sundowner’, bronze green marginate with pink, or Phormium ‘Rainbow Queen’. A Euphorbia mellifera with a strongly exotic temperament, featuring lanceolate foliage of a beautiful green and an impressive bushy form, can join in, taking care to leave enough space for each of these beautiful subjects. The discreet flowering will blend well into the decor. Let’s add a majestic inflorescence to enhance the bed in summer: the exotic flowers of a Protea will make a statement in a mild climate. It can be replaced elsewhere by an Hedychium ‘Elizabeth’, a sumptuous ornamental ginger in salmon pink, ensuring its base is well protected, or in less clement regions by some Crinum powellii ‘Rosea’. The charming and late flowering and the exotic foliage of Eucomis will prolong the feeling of travel. You can also add some atypical foliage or plants as desired: Caladium or Arisaema candidissimum.

Protea, Eucomis, Phormium, Euphorbia mellifera, and Caladium

Spotlight on foliage!

Spring and autumn colour many leaves in a hue that hovers between yellow and pink, a sort of khaki green that cannot quite admit it. One can then consider focusing on these evolving leaves, pairing them with others that assert a deep pink like many heucheras.

The star of this bed located in a semi-sunny area will be a Sorbaria sorbifolia ‘Sem’, a small bush attractive for its remarkable pinnate foliage in spring and autumn and its frothy white flowering later in the season. Stunning heucheras with pink foliage (Heuchera ‘Berry Smoothie’) and marbled (Heuchera ‘Tiramisu’ or Heuchera americana ‘Birkin’) will bring a contrasting splash of colour. A carpet of Epimedium will brighten the shadier corners of the bed with its decorative foliage and delicate flowering, chosen in pink tones. Don’t hesitate to incorporate another beautiful slender, coppery foliage, that of Libertia peregrinans, which boasts a lovely white flowering, and the ground cover provided by Begonia grandis, begonias that are truly unlike any others, stunning with their large veined leaves, the undersides of which are tinged red, and their light flowering at the end of summer!

Sorbaria sorbifolia ‘Sem’, Heuchera ‘Berry’, Epimedium asiatic hybrids, Begonia grandis evansiana, Libertia peregrinans and Heuchera ‘Tiramisu’