Pantone 2016 Colors of the Year & Your Garden

    I always like to include a blog each year featuring the Pantone color of the year. This year we are doubly fortunate because for the first time there are two Pantone colors, Rose Quartz and Serenity, to help guide our design choices and for this gardener, my plantings.

    As the website below suggests, the feeling of respite and relaxation was what the colors are meant to invoke. What better place for respite and relaxation than our outdoor rooms and gardens. Yes, they have made a challenge for us with Serenity. It is a challenge to find soft blue blooms in the garden consistently throughout the growing season. Annuals just don’t come in that color. My perennial Lungwort (Pulmonaria), & my biennial Forget-me-knots , all early spring bloomers, come pretty close. Both plants as they mature take on the Rose Quartz tones too and where the colors blend is the beautiful soft shade of lavender. So with the serene blue sky readily available most days in the garden, we can focus the rest of the summer on the soft pinks and delicate purples. The important thing to remember is not to plan these soft shades in a planter or bed that is drenched in sunlight because the shades will appear washed out. Also, the subtlety of the colors will be lost if planted too far from your choice viewing areas unless planted en masse.

http://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2016

     So as you begin to plan your 2016 garden keep some of these plants in mind and you may just have your very own Pantone Garden of the Year! For my sunnier spots containers of softly colored petunias would be lovely. When you think of soft pink & purple for the shade you may think traditional impatiens but alas that annual is not an option because of the downy mildew disease. The hybrid impatiens like the double impatiens and the new guinea (with sunpatiens for the sunnier spots) are still an option. Also there are lovely shades of these colors in the shade loving torenia. Beautiful perennial hellebores, creeping phlox, phlox paniculata, geraniums, mallows, coneflower, cornflowers for blue, scabiosa & lamium are wonderful choices. As always, visit your favorite garden centers frequently for the best, continuous selection throughout the seasons. I mean the Serenity sky is the limit! Lastly, be creative with your containers, bed arranging, & have fun with this new color theme! Now all we need is the warmer weather…