If there’s one colour I’m asked to exclude from a planting scheme it’s yellow. I don’t really understand why. Ok, you may not want to wear yellow or paint your bedroom yellow but outside in the garden it’s a fab colour.

Yellow appears frequently among wild flowers, think fields of buttercups, dandelions, gorse and broom, primroses and flag irises.

Tulipa World Friendship and Tulipa Yellow Spring Green

In the garden spring starts with yellow crocuses, daffodils of course then the showstoppers, tulips. My preference is for the pale yellow Tulipa World Friendship and I like to pair it with stronger yellows like Tulipa Yellow Spring Green and white Tulipa Hakuun. With plenty of green the colours are fresh and zingy but not over the top. The weaker spring sunlight means the colours don’t look washed out.

Geranium Orion, Phlomis russeliana, Cephalaria gigantica, Thalictrum lucidum

As spring moves into summer the combination of blue with yellow really stands out. It’s still a fresh look and here there are several different yellows with different heights and forms combined with blue Geranium Orion, Buxus sempervirens and a Euphorbia.

As summer progresses and the light gets warmer the yellow combination with blue becomes more saturated, particularly in late afternoon sun.

Yellow is fully capable of standing on its own in a garden. Luciano Giubbelei surprised the Chelsea Flower Show in 2014 by mostly using yellow flowers in his best in show garden. It helped that these Lupinus Chandelier are large, architectural flowers. Rudbeckia, and of course yellow roses can do the same thing.

Aside from blue, yellow’s opposite colour, yellow can be paired with complementary colours such as white and orange for a sophisticated and subtle mix. When I planted this Surrey garden I only ordered the burnt orange Helenium Moerheim Beauty. It was a happy surpise when it appeared I had Helenium Butterpat in the mix too.

Helenium Butterpat and Helenium Moerheim Beauty

Of course you have to break the rules sometimes so pairing yellow with red makes quite a statement. This is a different part of the same Surrey garden.

Foenculum vulgare, Rudbeckia Deamii and Potentilla Gibson’s Scarlet

And then of course you can go full on tutti-fruitti…. This is the in the same garden. Luckily the client was up for a vibrant colour palette and in high summer it looks fabulous.

Helenium Moerheum Beauty, Helenium Butterpat, Rudbeckia fulgida var. Deamii, Echinacea purpurea Magnus, Verbena bonariensis, Crocosmia Lucifer

I’m not the only garden designer letting rip with yellow. This is from Tom Hoblyn’s Chelsea garden in 2019.

So be daring, have some fun, the sun always shines on yellow flowers.