This invasive weed is everywhere in the Pacific Northwest. A native of the Mediterranean, it was imported to British Columbia in the mid 19th century by Captain Walter Grant for cultivation on his Vancouver Island farm. And just as with the introduction of starlings, nobody knew it was invasive with insidious effects.
One unassuming plant can go from this.
To this.
To this.
And finally, to this, in which it is no longer beautiful, but becomes a yellow blight of oversaturation on our springtime verdant hillsides, breaking the Law of Chromatic Distribution.
Now I am wondering two things. Has it proliferated so because it is bright yellow and it beckons pollinators at every turn? And second, doesn’t all this yellow serve as a warning as does a bumble bee, a yield sign, a school bus or some caution tape? Is it telling us by its golden yellow color, Pantone 130 PC, that if we don’t do something soon, we’ll all find ourselves strangled by this yellow invader?
In my opinion, there is only one good thing about this plant. If one is so lucky to be in earshot of its exploding pods in late autumn, one is in for an auditory treat.
Just to let you know, when I design with color, I exercise a little more restraint than Cytsius Scoparius.
ebrown@eb-color.com 206-353-0454
The window sashes were already burgundy aluminum, so that took care of that color, and we used a mid tone gray laminate counter tops in work areas. Not exciting, no, but it rounded it out the palette creating the necessary warm/cool balance as well as serving as a visually ergonomic work surface.
