What's With All The Yellow?

Above:  even the Clivia is yellow

Yellow is not my favorite color.  Probably my favorite color is any color other than yellow.  So why all of a sudden does yellow seem to be taking over this garden?  
 Okay, besides that.  And besides this:
A lot of new foliage is yellow--but it will quickly green up.  The Avocado tree is dropping its old foliage, blooming, and pushing out new foliage all at once.  It won't be yellow for long.
I didn't know Kalanchoe orgyalis flowered yellow.  I never thought about the flowers at all--it's a plant grown for its foliage.
Not a bad yellow, though.
Last spring I got a little Tidy Tips wildflower plant as a freebie and spread the seeds around.  One plant came up this spring.  Yellow looks even sunnier with a touch of white, doesn't it? 
The Calylophus 'Southern Belle' is a tough tough plant for a hot hot spot--this one.  Tough is good, even when it is yellow.  
The Mexican Tulip Poppy, Hunnemannia fumariifolia is another awesome plant for hot dry conditions, and it displays a yellow I can really love--pure, clear, strong.  Huh.  It does look like a tulip.


I pulled last years front garden Gazanias last fall because they were dried up.  Gazanias reseed.  This volunteer has only touches of yellow, and the brown streaks echo the nearby dark-leafed Lagerstroemia.  Serendipity.
 I like yellow Gaillardias better than the typical orange/red ones.  I can't help that. 
 Some of the very best roses in the garden happen to be yellow.  Performance counts, you know?
'Molineux':  clean foliage, quick repeat.  
Buttery 'Julia Child', clean foliage, quick repeat, good fragrance:
Agave 'Joe Hoak' and Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' are foliage plants, so the creamy pale yellow 'Fred' flowers here doesn't count.
The Hymenolepis crithmoides (aka H. parviflora) was a gift, so again, unintentional yellow.  And it will be a butterfly and bee all-you-can drink festival when the flowers open.  Support your local pollinators!
Perhaps I'm just fixating.  Stepping back from the details and looking at a wider view, it's not so very yellow out there.   
But yellow is not red.
'Beloved':
 Or purple!
Salvia 'Amistad'

Comments

  1. How beautiful! I think of yellow as spring, and your close up shots definitely look like spring to me. And the wide shot is gorgeous! I suppose that the garden will give you another color to focus on soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably...I'm easily distracted! ;^)

      I hope you are getting some good spring weather and enjoying your garden.

      Delete
  2. I love yellow but it is an attention-grabbing color and therefore should probably be used with moderation. Of course, I'd argue that the same is true of red, although never blue or purple, of which I never seem to have enough. Your yellows are all gorgeous. I dropped the Hunnemannia seedpod you gave me in a small gap between 2 small boulders but, sadly, it hasn't chosen to sprout, at least not yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll be saving seeds, can mail you more. It's not an aggressive self-seeder--I didn't get that many plants after tossing lots and lots of seeds everywhere. In one place I probably tossed 100 seeds and ended up with one plant.

      Yes, blue and purple never seem to overwhelm!

      Delete
  3. It's hard to be anti-yellow when there are just so many great plants that come in that color, as your post proves. I confess to being slightly anti-pink myself, unless a great plant talks me out of that prejudice too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's it--if it's a great performing plant, it is hard to say "no" to it; color becomes secondary. There are so many great pink roses--I just can't be anti-pink, but beyond roses there isn't much pink here.

      Delete
  4. I used to not like yellow either, but since my visit at Hidecote Gardens last year I learned that I can like all colors, but it depends on the nuances and with what colors they are combined with. In my own garden I have planted now two 'Charles Darwin' roses, which are at their best when they show a very interesting mustard yellow coloration. I also like when yellow is toned down a notch inter-planted with white. I find to play with colors quite fascinating by now and really try to create combinations that are pleasing to my eye in my garden and sometimes go for the unusual.
    I love the wide shot of your front yard. Sooo... pretty!
    Recently I bought a salvia 'Amistad' as well. It doesn't bloom as prolific as yours yet, but looks promising. By the way yellow and purple is an interesting, but daring color combination in my opinion that is worth giving a try.
    Wishing you a nice spring weekend!
    Christina

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been working on combining colors also. It is fun and the garden is looking somewhat the better for it. How do you like 'Charles Darwin' overall? A good one? Salvia 'Amistad' has been a great plant here--it does take a few months to get going, and then...!

      Delete
  5. I am very partial to yellow flowers, especially yellow roses. Molineaux, I have 3. Happy Child, Golden Celebration, Claudia Cardinale, etc. I got Claudia from Arena. Remember Arena ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I very much do remember Arena! The source of my 'Geranium Red' which is still after 16 years a stellar, stellar rose. They expanded and then the rose-craze started to decline and then...kaput. :(

      Delete
    2. I sure hated that kaput--Claudia is stellar too. No disease at all. What a beautiful catalog they had.

      Delete
    3. Yes, the catalog. Sy(?) Arena took the photos...I think I have a catalog somewhere--too gorgeous to throw out.

      Delete
  6. I think of this as the yellow season. Some yellows, I like..mostly very pale shades. The strong golden yellow of some Rudbeckias sets my teeth on edge but there is a big stand of them at work that I adore. 'Never say never' seems to be the byword here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just so! Golden is nice, but chrome is my fav.

      Delete
  7. Your yellows are sure purty, especially in the context of your whole garden. Yellow is a good companion color for the beloved reds and purples.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We seem to have the same sentiments about yellow, and yet it has insinuated itself into my garden, as well. Just as pink has in my garden (towards which I feel the same as yellow). I most often find myself enjoying yellow in spring and fall, when the light isn't as strong. In the glare of summer, I can't stand strong yellows and definitely prefer either very pale or very dark golden yellows. But then I'll spot some true yellow flower in the strong summer sun that I like after all. Maybe I should just stop claiming I don't like it. You have lots of beautiful yellows in this post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps it is because the yellows in the garden are not so faded out in spring as they are in summer, that I notice them more. Our light is much warmer in color and more intense than that of the PNW. When visiting the PNW and taking lots of photos, I was amazed at how different the light was.

      Delete
  9. I almost always like yellow - it is such a happy color! But, as with everything, it is how, and with what, it is used that makes it shine. My favorites tend to be the softer, buttery yellows, but as soon as I say that, something else comes along that makes me swoon. Those tulip poppies, for example. I absolutely LOVE those!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Always interested in your thoughts.

Any comments containing a link to a commercial site with the intent to promote that site will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding on this matter.