Italian Garden Design

harmonising planting schemes in Italian gardens

The effect of light and shade is a major component of Italian garden design and is known as the 'Chiaro-scuro' effect. As one passes under a dense tree canopy or under a pergola, smothered in wisteria, one experiences alternating concentrations of light. This light to dark effect can be strengthened and enhanced in the Italian garden by using intelligent planting schemes. Dark evergreens, like cypress trees and box (Buxus sempervirens) do provide great structure in the Italianate garden but they also provide a very dark green backdrop. This dark green, however elegant, can also steal valuable light from the garden and it should therefore be compensated with lighter touches that will illuminate dark corners and pick up on that essential 'chiaro-scuro' theme.
Silver-grey foliage plants provide the italian garden designer with the ideal colour tone to lighten and illuminate the darker areas of the Italian garden and create an alternating tonal effect that will harmonise and pull the whole garden design together- creating harmony. The light greys of Teucrium fruticans, Salvia officinalis (sage), Santolina chamaecyparissus and Stachs lanata possess the lightest, most metallic of garden colours and their shimmering foliage colour adds a nuance of the Mediterranean, where this colour foliage is very common. Silver-grey is a colour that enables the plant to resist the blazing Mediterranean sun and is therefore a fundamental element in Mediterranean garden design.
Silver-grey foliage suggests heat and its very presence will subconsciously make one feel warmer and closer to the Mediterranean as a result!
Silver-grey plants also possess some important qualities that can have several different effects upon a planting scheme within the Italian garden design. Firstly, they possess a rare harmonising quality that will bind a flower border with a predominantly pastel colour scheme. Blues become dreamy against a backdrop of silver-grey and soft pinks are granted the sophistication they deserve, when combined with silver greys. However, silver-greys can also act as a sort of launch pad for hot colours, like oranges or deep yellows and a flower border using the this combination can become electric indeed. therefore this colour combination should be used with discretion - to say the least!
There are many differing tones within the silver grey range and when these are combined intelligently within a design they can become a striking, yet relaxing feature in their own right, even without any other colours. An area of greys will create the perfect pause in a colour scheme and can allow one to change a colour theme from hot to cool, without disturbing the overall harmony of the garden.

As a garden designer, I would be hard pushed to design an Italian garden, without using grey-leaved plants, so essential are they in creating a classical, Italian garden feel.

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