Combining Colors

Creative colors

Tinkering around with different color combinations helps us get a handle on which plants to pair up in a landscape bed. Let’s take a look at some of the creative displays we put together in 2016.

‘Lucky Red’ lantana

Behind the blue petunia there are two pretty strawflowers; both are from the Mohave series, a rose and a red. Look closely and you’ll notice a new lantana, too— ‘Lucky Red’; well, they call it a red but it’s actually another orange. It looks promising out of the gate but it’s just not a red red like we’re looking for here. 

Red, yellow and orange—beautiful combination

On the topic of red, another of our Display Gardens was a red bed flanked by just regular old yellow marigolds; actually, they’re French marigolds—‘Primrose’. In front we had ‘Lucky Red’ lantana and then a new cock’s comb variety for next year: ‘Dracula’s Blood’, named for the deep, dark red color. 

You’ll notice that the leaf on this new variety has some red in it, too; actually it’s more of a maroon or burgundy, and the color became even more prominent over time. You see, this is a part sun, part shade bed so the plant didn’t get full, full sun. ‘Dracula’s Blood’ was in bloom from the moment we first planted it, so we have to say it’s exciting in that way.

Two-tone coleus ‘Premium Sun Pineapple Surprise’

Another new two-tone coleus here is ‘Premium Sun Pineapple Surprise’; it’s chartreuse faced with a little bit of maroon or burgundy. We tried to tie the colors in, so this plant kind of plays with the ‘Dracula’s Blood’—as if the blood fell in splotches onto the coleus in no particular pattern. 

Caladium ‘Red Flash’

Now, our caladium bed was really red; we were playing with reds and whites, specifically ‘Red Flash’ caladium interspersed with ‘Titan White’ vinca. To be honest, this garden was very easy to put together—the addition of a few simple plants made such a huge difference. All we did was drop in the caladiums, evenly spaced, and walk away, yet it looked so much more interesting than just a bed of white vincas. 

Across the way we had a little patch of vinca as kind of a preliminary skirt—just a bit of red and white to play off of the caladium and the white vinca on the other side of the patio. It was another simple—yet effective—combination.