ombré in the garden

Ombré... the definition is "having colors or tones that shade into each other, used especially of fabrics in which the color is graduated from light to dark.  The origin of ombré is french, the past participle of ombrer to shade and comes from Italian ombrare, from ombra shade, from Latin umbra.  And if you drop the french accent mark off the e... well ombre, just plain, is actually taken from the word hombre (man) and is the name of a card game... isn't google amazing?

But seriously... this whole ombré fad with hair, crafts, paper... I'll admit I'm not usually a fan.  But I did notice that nature provides us with this same effect....

My first picking of tomatoes a few weeks ago.  I arranged them a la Martha for a bit of tomato art.  I start picking my tomatoes as they start to turn orange, this hastens the ripening of the other tomatoes.  So some of the actual tomatoes have an ombré look as well as the effect in my little display.

These lemon cukes don't really fit the idea of ombré, but I couldn't resist including them since they are my all time favorites.  These were the first two I harvested back in July... now I can't eat them quickly enough!

A few years back a saw a hanging basket of this oregano, yes it's a type of oregano... Kent Beauty Oregano to be exact.  I looked high and low for this plant for the next few years and never, ever found any.  This year, there it was at a local garden center.  I snapped up a couple of starts to add to my million bells on the front porch that have similar tones.  Since it's a sun loving plant it does well in this west facing spot on my porch.  This is considered a 'tender' perennial so I may try to over winter it in my little greenhouse.  I love the shaded coloring of the bracts I think it's a sort of ombré look.

 But of course one of the highlights in my garden this year have been my hydrangeas.  They have all done so well and are just covered with blossoms.  This particular variety is called Pinky Winky and is at the end of the driveway in front of the retaining wall that was built last year.  They looked a little weary last year, their first, but have rebounded nicely this spring and summer.  The coloring is beautiful and quite similar to my Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea.  Even the stems/branches are a reddish color.  This hydrangea looks fantastic in the fall as the blossoms really take on a vintage, dusky color.

So although I'm not a fan of the whole ombré fad in hair, fabrics and all.... I think I just may like it in nature... and the gardens.

Starting another week of "staycation" and hoping to get many projects completed.  Perhaps even have a little time to "share"!

linking up to

Fishtail Cottage

Cottage Garden Party

AND 

Elizabeth & Co

August Garden Party