Lupin love

Spires and splashes of fiery orange against the pool’s cool blue

The colour gets even more saturated as dusk falls

This is a colour combo that never gets old: the bright, almost neon orange of Lupinus ‘Terracotta’ with the teal of the pool. At least it hasn’t got old yet. When we were choosing the pool tiles I imagined them with more muted coral shades, but I guess that was just me kidding myself that I’m classier than I actually am. Not that I’ve gone off peachy coral shades - quite the opposite - but on this scale and with a teal this strong I think you can’t be shy with the contrast. I also love the reflections they create in the pool, and how saturated the colour is at dusk.

Down the side we’ve echoed the colour in Geum ‘Mrs Bradshaw’, which at its peak flops over the side into the water in a pleasingly wild way. Last year I also had Lilium pumilum in a pot which, although a bit redder, brought the same intense contrast. However it attracted lily beetle and and the lupins were absolutely infested with giant lupin aphids by the time they’d finished flowering, so there is a price to pay. Plus the lupin season is relatively short, and although the leaves are nice they don’t really warrant taking up the whole end-of-pool bed, which is one of the main planting focal points. I might try interplanting nerines in there for another display later in the year. Maybe in a coral and pale pink, just to see what the softer contrast is like.