Get busy now and make the most of annuals

The choices are dazzling, particularly in the great range of colors that are in the marketplace now.

By Nancy Brachey

The Charlotte Observer

Everyone’s a gardener in April. That is when cars almost automatically turn in the direction of garden centers, where everyone stocks up on their favorite plants for spring.

For many people, the first choices are some of the many annuals that are already in bloom — with the promise of more to come in the months ahead.

The choices are dazzling, particularly in the great range of colors that are in the marketplace now. And that raises a question about how to combine this fabulous array in your flowerbeds.

The first rule is to follow your heart. Most everyone has favorites on the color spectrum. These colors — bright red, vivid purple, cheerful yellow — make them happy at first sight. Don’t be afraid to walk into a garden center and tell yourself, “I really like orange,” or “This year, I’m going for violet.”

Once you know this, you can forge ahead. Then, surrounded by all the available colors, you realize you will not be happy with just one.

That’s when the wonderful task of mixing them comes in. Some gardeners may fear this, thinking they may do it wrong and mess up the entire summer. But those of us who practice mixing colors know it works every time.

That is because the colors of nature go together beautifully. The most beautiful flowerbeds I have ever seen combine many colors.

If you are just beginning, look at this task in a couple of ways.

The first is varying tones of one color. Pink and yellow flowers, for example, come in many shades from pale and soft to bright and vivid. It is the same with purple, which ranges from palest lilac to deepest violet. Tones of the same color always look good and interesting together. This is especially effective in large containers or hanging baskets.

A second approach that never fails is to choose the three primary colors — red, yellow and blue — and mix them up with various annuals. This makes a beautiful sight: refreshing, vivid and easy to accomplish with the range of choices on the market today.

You do not have to make a clear one-third division among these colors. It is fine if the red million-bells or the yellow marigolds dominate; let the other two act as the supporting cast. Yellow, even in small amounts, will add zing and zest to a bed, the same way it does with an arrangement in a vase.

By practicing these two approaches to color, you will gain confidence in mixing plants. That will lead you to a third one, which boils down to combining very bold colors. Red and purple, purple and orange, or orange and blue may not seem made for each other, but they combine very well, especially when you choose the vivid tones of these colors.

If your eyes need time to adjust to these hot combos, add a bit of green foliage and see how you like that. The addition of silver foliage or white flowers will also accomplish this bit of softening.