Get Creative with Colour in Your Garden

A new fence or shed can be an expensive purchase for the garden, even at the cheaper end of the market. They can often end up looking overwhelmingly orange and intrusive! In a new garden it can take several years for the planting to grow up and soften a boundary. One way to make your fence receed into the background or to make a feature of your garden shed, is to paint it. We will show you, using examples of features from our gardens, how we use paints amd stains to enhance our designs.

There are a wide range of coloured stains and paint especially formulated to be used outside.

It is a good idea to try out a tester on a small area before commiting to the whole fence. Remember, what might look fun on a small scale can be overwheming when painted on the whole fence! I find it is a good idea to paint a patch and live with it for a while. This way you can see how it looks at different times of the day.

We find black to be one of the best colours as it acts as a fantastic foil for plants. We painted this fence with Cuprinol Garden Shades ‘Black Ash’. The green leaves really stand out agianst it.

We are in good company; see how Piet Oudolf's fabulous planting at the Serpentine Pavillion in 2011 is set off against the black interior walls.

This chunky pergola was painted in Sikkens Setol Opaque. It is extremely durable and is available in a wide range of RAL colours. In this case the Anthracite Grey was chosen to match exactly with the bifolding doors of the house.

For a more ‘Cottage Garden’ look perhaps choose a soft green, blue or grey. In this small garden an old shed and fence has been given a new lease of life by painting them a soft grey that tones well with the paving.

This shed was well past its sellby date and rather an eyesore. By painting the it the same colour as the fence we have made it much less obtrusive, allowing it to merge into the background.

The contemporary slatted fence and binstore in Jo's Front Garden have been painted with Cuprinol Garden Shades ‘Arabian Sand’ to tone with the light sandstone paving of the path and driveway.

Lighter colours also have the benefit of allowing shadows to play on their surface.

B&Q are now selling a new 'Colours' range of woodstain called 'Garden Colour' which has some really bright selections as well as lots of more subtle ones. So, take a new look at your fence or shed and give them a coat of paint.