No colour clashes in nature

I’ve never believed in the concept of clashing colours. In nature colours just pile up one on top of one another, riotous and random. A coral reef displays a screaming disregard for colour theory, and wildflower hedgerows in June throw together the most eye poppingly brilliant colour combinations. An overcast, thundery day can reveal brilliant unearthly greens, roiling clouds coloured in bruised shades  shot through with piercing veins of delicate rose pink, silver and gold.

Nature, of course, isn’t doing this deliberately. Heathen that I am, I know that there isn’t anybody out there selecting these fine colours for me to savour; it is all random, and much the better for it. Whenever I find a person who is timid with colour, I’ll always point them to nature and remind them that all you need is the courage to choose boldly and you will never go wrong.

However, in a hedgerow coming down from Woon Gumpus common last week I saw a colour combination so startling that for a moment it threw my pet theory into doubt. A brilliant crimson fuchsia, gone wild and living riotously in a dry stone wall surrounded by red campion and foxglove provided such a violent combination of colours that it was genuinely hard to look at. In the murky light of an overcast day the foliage glowed a deep and peculiar viridian, all the better to show up the screaming blooms.