Does your Garden coordinate with your Wardrobe?

Laurinda

A little spin-off from RunCarla's 'How does your Garden Grow?' thread (thanks Doubleh for the suggestion) -- I got to pondering how much garden styles might be similar to that of our wardrobes.

Both my garden and my wardrobe are eclectic, boho, and slightly RATE. I keep an eye out for trendy pieces and plants and choose a few each year/season to freshen things up.

Colorwise there are strong seasonal trends for each: pastels, butter yellow and lavender in the spring, bright oranges and purples in the summer, and deep yellow gold and reds in the fall. Not much color in the winter in either, mostly shades of black/white from branches and snow with a few spots of red from dogwood shrubs.

Overall I tend to add a few trendy plants/clothing items each season, and don't purge my closet or weed my garden nearly as often as I should (until it gets almost too overwhelming to deal with).

Has anyone else noticed any similar themes inside and out?

11 years ago

Off Topic

13 replies

Latest reply was from Carla

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

I'm glad mine doesn't -- otherwise my closet would be wilted, brown and generally crispy and sun-burnt!

11 years ago

cheryle (Dianthus)

(website)

Veteran

In terms of color, I would say yes. Both have cooler colors primarily although I add a bit more yellow to my gardens than my wardrobe. My flowering plants tend to be blue/pink/lavender/white and the foliage tends to be cooler greens. I have structure in terms of the garden borders but they usually combine straight lines with curves.

I have seen a similar question but about decorating and fashion and I answer the same there but with more neutrals in decor.

11 years ago

Laurinda

Veteran

LOL Lyn, you are too much of a nurturing soul to have a crispy garden! If you were so inclined I bet your garden would be full of beautiful fragrant blooms, against a classic architectural backdrop. I'm imagining climbing roses on sturdy arbors ;-).

That is interesting Dianthus, I wonder if we are drawn to colors that flatter ourselves in our gardens? It makes sense with decorating. I tend to have a similar palette in both even if everything goes with green.

11 years ago

doubleh

Veteran

Thanks Laurinda for starting the thread- I think you stated it way more eloquently. And if Runcarla sees this, I am sort of addressing her comment here as well.
Back when I was doing corporate interiors I always tended to dress in the colors of the project I was proposing to the client. It started out unconsciously, but when I realized what I was doing I embraced it. I think it's harder for a client to poopoo a scheme if they feel like they are personally insulting (subconscious, again. It would not personally insult me.)
Doing residential mostly now, my "palettes" are more cohesive and I think are shaping my wardrobe selections as well.
Our landscaping here is terrible- we rent an old little cottage on the side of the mountain and it is overgrown beyond my help. I try to carve out a few little areas that I can plant, experiment and cultivate. All with varying results. But I limit my scope and am still trying to figure out what plants work where and which ones like me. And the plants I am drawn to are easy maintenance, hardy and pretty. Same with my clothing as I am defining and redefining what I want my style to be. Oh, and another link: I want visitors to think my gardens are doing well and be somewhat impressed, but really, hardly anyone visits and you can't see us from the road, so I am doing it mostly for myself and my family.

11 years ago

Windchime

Veteran

Fascinating question!

I can't wear all the colors in my garden, but what my garden, wardrobe, and interior decorating have in common is generous use of color. My garden consists of several beds scattered around our half-acre property; each has a somewhat different color scheme. The most used colors are various shades of purple and pink, mixed with mauve and touches of golden yellow. But I also have plenty of burgundy and red, some chartreuse foliage, bits of peach and orange, and I want to create an entirely white garden.

Compare that to my favorite wardrobe colors, which are black, white, all shades of blue, deep purple, fuchsia, and olive green.

Over the years, my gardening emphasis has shifted from planting only to create beauty to planting to provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. I now use mostly plants which are native to my region. However, I still try to plant in a way which is beautiful and orderly. My wardrobe, too, while needing to be comfortable and a bit RATE, also has to feel clean, neat, and orderly or I am not happy with it.

11 years ago

Alassë

Veteran

I don't do the gardening, but I like best:
Classics: like roses (feminine classic style)
Favorite colours: cream/pink/dark red (traditional rose colours)
Shades of green (I wear lots of greens)
Green-and-purple combinations (not sure how that ties in)

11 years ago

Thistle

Veteran

Interesting thought. I don't have a garden as I have waaaay too many pests. Squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, possums, etc. And I livein the city!! We do have our house landscapped, though.

I first tried to plan my landscaping myself. It looked horrible and was dying.

Then, I paid a professional landscaper to come out and help put together a low allergy, low maintenance plan. I had them do some of the heavy work, and we did the rest. It looks quite nice now, and most of the plants did well. We did have to trade out some bushes for some perennial grasses as my husband is a bit generous with salt in the winter. Other than that, they all grew and grew well

11 years ago

Laurinda

Veteran

Thank you for your kind words Doubleh! The subliminal choices can be very telling, once you figure them out it is. When it gets to be too much to keep my gardens weeded, I just plant more flowers hoping to improve the flower to weed ratio.

That is very interesting Windchime, we can certainly get away with much wilder color choices in our gardens. Good for you helping out the local wildlife. Butterflies have become rare around here, I hear the migrating Monarch population can use all the help it can get.

I was expecting that our color preferences carry over Alassë, even to our imagined gardens.

Like you Thistle, I appreciate a low maintenance garden (and wardrobe). I love tulips but so do our squirrels -- as snacks!

11 years ago

Hil

(website)

Veteran

I'm trying to thing about whether my garden resembles me... And I think only in a RATE low maintenance sort of way. Honestly, I really dislike gardening and somehow just don't get gardening. Interiors, I love and I think there are some definite resemblances between my interior styling and my dress sense

11 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Hehe. *My* garden is pretty country punk. Wild weeds and veg and a peony (and now that I think about it, where are my roses? why did they take my roses?)

*My* garden is my mother's. She calls me up and tells me it's time for me to plant. We built some crazy pen for the veg to keep the deer out. My mum would only allow me some garden stakes and netting. I put in a very nice functional gate, however; real hinges and everything. And then she went and threw some more netting over the top so you have to crawl inside. Completely crazed.

11 years ago

Laurinda

Veteran

If you don't enjoy gardening it makes sense to minimize the time you spend on it compared to interior decor Hil.

Rachylou your country punk garden sounds great! Good thing we don't have to worry about keeping deer out of our closets. (Moths are tough enough).

11 years ago

deb

Veteran

I am going to say that, yes my garden does coordinate my wardrobe. Not the color at all, but the structure. My style descriptive is 'playful classic' and my gardens lean toward the classic side with a playful twist. I have never really thought of it this way before.

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11 years ago

Carla

Veteran

My garden is classic, traditional, but a little rumpled and floppy, just like my fashion sense. However there is a certain romance and prettiness to my garden, that I don't think I show in my outfits.

11 years ago

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