Chanticleer, in Wayne, Pennsylvania, is one of my greatest sources of inspiration as a gardener. It describes itself as 'America's pleasure garden' and that it is. I love Chanticleer because you can tell the staff loves plants and loves to play with them in creative combinations and venues. Everything is done to please and exite the senses.
Color at Chanticleer is as much about flowers as it is about foliage. The combination of various leaf colors, textures, and shapes makes the garden interesting without any thought to flowers.
Purple leafed plants run as a theme through Chanticleer. I love how dark leaves interact with light and add a deep rich beauty which soothes the mind rather than excites.
Over the last several years of viewing Chanticleer, I have added two smokebushes (Cotinus 'Grace' and 'Royal Purple'), Rose glauca, purple phormiums, dark leafed clematis like 'Freda', amaranthus 'Hopi Red Dye' to my garden. The dark color relieves the green and really brings out any silver toned plants nearby. Also, the purple foliage looks great in floral arrangements.
One of my favorite quotations from Christopher Lloyd as it regards planting and border design is that "you should never have to explain what you were trying to do." At Chanticleer, this rings true. All the plantings are dense, rich, and full. The feeling of abundance surrounds you. There is rarely one of anything. Instead, it's large swaths of poppies set against orange wallflowers.
My garden is my small piece of Eden where I can experience this. This year I want to do a combination of yellow anthemis and orange butterfly weed. I know from Chanticleer I'll want to plant more than I think of both. 
For more information about Chanticleer, click here: http://www.chanticleergarden.org/ 
This post was inspired by the "Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop - Colors in the Garden" at one of my favorite gardening blogs, Gardening Gone Wild: http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=698
7 comments:
Beautiful images. I hope I get to visit that garden one day.
Thanks so much for the tour, HG! It's been a few years since I've been to Chanticleer, but I used to visit fairly often, and their creative combinations had a great influence on how I use color now in my own garden.
HG, this was a wonderful tour. I can see why you would be inspired by this garden.
Wonderful site ! I would love to get "lost" in that garden tour .. mya I ask if that is "Ballerina" hybrid mush rose as your header titale plant ? I'm having a love affair with it ! LOL
Beautiful pictures !
Joy
Joy,
Thanks for visiting. Yes, indeed, that is Ballerina on my header--it is one of my favorite heirloom roses. For the full post on Ballerina, click here:
http://heirloomgardener.blogspot.com/2007/11/ballerina.html
-Heirloom Gardener
Thank you very much for the beautiful tour, today of all days it means so much to me. The weather in Minnesota has taken a turn for the worse, all one can do is look at beautiful pictures and read the wonderful information you have on your blog. You've made my day! :)
What beautiful gardens. Thank you for the tour. I'm still in the midst of snow and ice and low temperatures! :-)
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