Fearless Color - Keeyla Meadows Garden

I confess to skipping more local garden tours than I attend. So many feature newly-installed McMansion gardens, heavy on the high-end hardscape - think oversized outdoor kitchens that look like no one has ever eaten in them, let alone prepared a meal - and endless stretches of uninspiring, pristine lawn. But when I read that this year’s Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour in the East Bay included several of my longtime, wish-list gardens, I realized this particular tour was not to be missed.

 Keeyla Meadows' garden was my first stop of the day. I’ve blogged about the well known designer, author and sculptor before, whose most recent book Fearless Color Gardens: The Creative Gardener's Guide to Jumping Off the Color Wheel pushes the boundary on color in the garden. Many garden designers emphasize foliage color and texture over flowers, and limit bright colors to a few containers or the occasional focal point wall. Cheekily thumbing its nose at such restraint, Keeyla’s garden celebrates color with an exuberant ferocity that makes a visit there a one-of-a-kind experience.

Walls in a range of colors form the backdrop for her custom containers,

 

art work,

 

and of course, flowers..or edibles like this artichoke that's been allowed to flower.

 

But spend too much time looking around, and you’ll miss the riot of color, shapes and textures on the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

Playfully painted and bejeweled seating is tucked throughout the garden.

 

How perfect is the contrast provided from the loropetalum peaking around the corner?

 

A corner is transformed into a colorful nook.

 

For those of you with small gardens like mine who complain about lack of space, take a cue from Keeyla. Anything is fair game, including the roof of her design shed.

 

In addition to the walls, floors and rooftops, the plants themselves are not shy, adding plenty of garden color on their own. 

Hot plantings in shades of red, orange and pink are toned down with peachy hues,

earthtones,

 

and the occasional shot of cooling blue or lavender.

 

Shown here with Garden Conservancy volunteer and director of the new Sunset Western Garden Plant Collection Janet Sluis, Keeyla was a warm and gracious hostess, making all of us gushing tour-goers feel welcome. (If you’ve never met either of these charming ladies, Keeyla is the one on the right – her clothes and personality are every bit as colorful as her gardens.)

On a final note, my once daring purple wall seems pretty tame in comparison. Time to break out the paint cans! Stay tuned…

 

Comments

[Reed Pugh]

Not for me, but very cool nonetheless.

You sound like my husband. :-)

[Genevieve]

Oh, I love this. I don't think I'm into bold colors until I see someone as artistic as Keeyla do them so well. I suddenly want to get out there, take clay and mosaic classes, and personalize everything in my garden! Thank you so much for sharing this.

Next time you are in the Bay Area, let's visit it! Keeyla is wonderfully welcoming and open to having her garden photographed.

[Charlotte Germane "Daffodil Planter"]

It's thrilling to be in Keeyla's garden. She's a true artist. Susan, thanks for capturing so many of the "look at THAT" vignettes. Can't wait to see the color eruption in your own garden!

Come by anytime! Currently my garden is having its best summer ever!

[Pam/Digging]

How marvelous that you got to see her colorful garden in person. It reminds me strongly of Lucinda Hutson's garden in Austin, which has a Mexican cantina flavor with exterior walls of her house painted various warm colors, creating different moods throughout her garden rooms. While I'll never be this uninhibited in my own garden, I do enjoy seeing the creations of others who are fearless in that regard.

I would never go as far in my own garden as Keeyla has (partly because I share it with my husband), but it does help push me to be a LITTLE bolder.

[Landscaping Designs]

Love the color contrasts! Fearless indeed.

Thanks for stopping by, Kate!

[ryan]

I would have loved to see her home garden. It looks great. I see a lot of her work around Berkeley, and it's always recognizable and always interesting.

Ryan, she opens her garden to the public a few Sundays a month (as does Marcia Donahue, who was also on the tour). If you get the chance, I'm sure you would enjoy it.

[sensible Gardening]

Wow, a very busy garden. Maybe not my style but interesting and very creative. Back to garden tours, I wish they would understand the difference between gardens and landscaping, I'm tired of looking at cement and big goofy badly made ponds.

Agree - many garden tours around here are newly planted and mostly about expensive hardscape. This tour featured REAL gardens.

[Linda Lehmusvirta]

Dear Susan, thanks for this tour I could not take in person! And I so agree about garden tours--great perspective on that. I go back and forth on bold colors, since it does take a good eye (which I don't have) but I love this.

I'm in the minority among professional designers in responding to this level of color, but what can I say? It makes me smile.

[rebecca sweet]

Great post, Susan. You KNOW how much it hurt me to miss this one, but this post makes me feel a teensy bit better. Okay. Not really. I actually feel WORSE knowing what a fantastic garden I missed!! But re: your purple wall is anything but tame! Keeyla would be proud!

Not so purple anymore. Thanks to Keeyla's inspiration, it's in the process of being transformed into acid green. :-)

[Minnie Moore]

I love the purple colors in the garden. Here I am, wishing my garden would turn out the way I'd imagine it to be. I envy the way you experiment with colors. So bold and so carefree.

[Anne]

That looks like a really unique place. It is so full of flowers. And it is also so colorful! I like your pictures. I would want to make a collection of garden photos myself but I just don’t have a very nice camera. I wish to have a garden like this myself. It just seems so full of life. I know the kids would definitely enjoy a space just like this. Thanks for sharing this.

[zack]

I love the use of color here, but I don't think I could quite pull this off in my neighborhood!

[Shenandoah]

Thank you for showing us a fantastic use of color in hard and soft scape! I now appreciate why she is famous! Again, thank you!

[wellies boots]

The Garden represents relaxation. I think is one great place where you can relax and see things beautifully.

[Ibukun]

What a pretty garden! I love it!

[James]

What a beautiful garden. All of the contrasting colours work so well and seems almost effortless. All the flowers look beautiful and I love all the colourful benches and seats, especially the mosaic, tiled one.

Thanks,
James @ Capital Gardens