![]() |
FLOWER DESIGN IDEASCOLOR SCHEMESNeed some ideas for color in your annual flower garden design? Here are several color schemes, with examples of flowers and design hints.
Color needs to be spread throughout the garden. Don't restrict yellow to the back, red to the middle, and white to the front. (This sounds nauseating!) Each height needs each color that you have chosen. Say you choose a cool color scheme - blue, purple, green, and white. The tall plants can include blue bachelor buttons, white cosmos, and blue/violet ageratum. A blue morning glory could even climb above the garden. Medium height plants can be violet Love-in-a-mist, purple statice, and white nicotiana. Green coleus is an effective mid-height foliage plant. An appropriate border can consist of violet pansies, white alyssum, and deep blue lobelia. A warm color scheme would include red, yellow and orange flowers. White always helps the intensity of such a plan. I love tall red and yellow snapdragons, yellow and orange calendula, and white bachelor buttons. the border of such a bed could be California poppies, yellow gazania, and white alyssum.
Once I saw an annual bed lining a driveway. It was completely red. Red salvia was the only plant in it. It definitely caught my eye, and made the driveway a dramatic entrance. My all-time favorite garden, though, is the cottage-style garden. It has every color in it. A true cottage garden includes perennials and ornamental grasses. I love to combine all the colors: red, yellow, pink, purple, blue, white, orange, and green. I mix the proportions of these each year, but my favorite mix is a lot of blue, orange and yellow, with a hint of red and white. It's never dull, and never too hot or too cool. |