9 Annual Flower Color Palettes We Love for Spring
One of the best ways to turn over a new leaf in the landscape is with an annual color reboot. Gardening expert Melissa Strauss shares some color palette refreshers that you can achieve with the addition of flowering annuals.
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Perennials are the foundation of the garden, but spring annual flowers often define the color palette. While you’re waiting for your perennials to come back to life and reach their blooming season, why not add some colorful annuals to brighten up the space?
Using these single-season plants is the perfect way to add color and texture to your landscape. There are many benefits to planting them, including the ability to grow things that otherwise won’t thrive in your climate. They also tend to have a prolonged and more intense blooming period, so they make a bold impact.
Part of the joy of gardening is the artistry of designing and executing a beautiful space. One of the first steps in achieving that is choosing a color palette and then looking for plants that you love in those colors. Here are some of my favorite color inspirations for this year’s spring annual flower garden.
Rosy Hues
Roses are red and pink and salmon and burgundy. They’re plenty of other colors as well, but let’s talk about those rosy hues. Pink and red go together beautifully. It’s amazing how many shades you can get just by going a bit lighter or darker.
Roses are perennials, but there are tons of red and pink annuals that you can add to make your garden feel like Valentine’s Day all spring and summer, too! Zinnias, like the ones pictured, are easy to grow and quick to flower. They bloom for an extra-long season, from early spring right up to the first frost.
You don’t have to limit yourself to one flower. Red and pink celosia are a gorgeous textural addition to your beds. ‘Candystripe’ cosmos have an airy effect and add a touch of white to set off their magenta edges. Mix in some ‘Rubenza’ cosmos to add more drama.
It’s harder to find a flower that doesn’t come in pink or red than those that do. Baskets of geraniums are a stunning annual addition. Throw in some ‘Rouge Royale’ sunflowers for a showy vertical element.
Rainbow Bright
If you’re having difficulty choosing just a few flower colors, you can’t go wrong with a spring annual rainbow color palette. The only wrong way to do the rainbow is to limit your imagination. Make sure you choose a flower in every color. Your garden is certain to be a work of art.
Choose seed collections that have a range of shades, like the ‘Drop Dead Red’ sunflower combo. ‘Blue Boy’ bachelor’s buttons are the perfect, vivid blue to complement some bright orange ‘Oopsy Daisy’ calendula flowers.
Green is easy; the foliage will give you all you need. But, if you just don’t feel right without some green blooms, try Bells of Ireland or ‘Envy’ zinnias. These true green flowers are certain to attract attention.
For the perfect pop of yellow, sprinkle in some ‘Lemon Drop’ marigolds. Hem it all in with a purple border of ‘Oriental Nights’ sweet alyssum. Every one of these flowers is safe for people and pets, and most of them fall into the edible category.
Purple Perfection
Cool and warm at the same time, purple is the color of royalty and creativity. If you’re going to choose a monochromatic look for your garden, a mass of purple penstemon or angelonia makes a stunning statement.
If you’re going to stick with one color, don’t hold back. You can go for a mass planting of the same flower, mix and match different shades, or even create an ombre effect in your beds.
Purple is a bee’s favorite color, so adding this to your space is a great way to draw and feed these important pollinators. It’s a common color for flowers, so it’s easy to find an array of options. I love ‘Shockwave Purple Tie Dye’ petunias for filling containers.
Delft Blue
If you’re a fan of lovely Delft Blue pottery, you can create a similar effect in the garden with blue and white blooms. True blue is the rarest color for flowers, but when it happens, it’s breathtaking.
‘Blue and Breezy’ flax mixes well with ‘The Bride’ bachelor’s buttons. Throw in some blue bachelor’s buttons, too! ‘Cambridge Blue’ lobelia will attract pollinators and make a classy, beautiful border. Sprinkle in some ‘Tiny Tim’ sweet alyssum, and you have a stunning ground cover.
There are so many options for this spring annual flower color combo. If you have a trellis or fence to cover, ‘Heavenly Blue’ morning glories grow quickly and combine blue and white in one flower. Don’t forget to plant some ‘Delft Blue’ love-in-a-mist. It’s all in the name of this lovely, lacy annual.
Passionate About Pink
Calling all Barbie girls, you know that pink never goes out of style. Pink is a perfect color if you want to stick with one hue. While purple has a soothing and regal vibe, pink is energizing and vivacious.
I can’t get enough pink cosmos. Their fernlike foliage is a wonderful textural element, and they bloom fast and profusely. They’re excellent for the cutting garden, too. The ‘Sea Shells’ blend has multiple shades, from white to magenta.
If you want to go all out with pink drama, nothing does the trick quite like ‘Coral Fountain’ Love-Lies-Bleeding amaranth. The cascades of salmon to coral-colored tassels make this a memorable plant. The plumes make wonderful dried flowers and are edible, too!
Sunny Skies
Like bright sunshine and clear blue skies, this color palette is soothing and energizing at the same time. The bold yellow blooms really pop, and the gentleness of the blue blossoms gives the eye a soothing place to rest. Even though these are not technically complementary colors, the juxtaposition is striking.
Black-eyed Susans are the staple here, obviously. It’s hard to beat their sturdy constitution. While technically perennials, most gardeners treat them as re-seeding annuals. I love the ‘Indian Summer’ cultivar; it has a touch of orange in the center that works well with blue tones.
The asters in the background are easy to grow and care for. This combination is extra floriferous and a pollinators dream. Planting these two together will bring tons of native bee and butterfly species to your yard.
Warm and Bright
I’m going big with sunflowers this year. A sunflower fence is what I hope to achieve with a mass of assorted varieties along my property line. Why plant just one color when sunny sunflowers come in a range of shades from red to nearly white and every warm shade in between?
If you want to achieve this look, it’s really quite easy. Direct sow your seeds in the garden. Sunflowers have a tap root that doesn’t appreciate disturbance. Give them some protection while they germinate, or you’re likely to lose many of them to squirrels. Once they sprout, they are not as attractive to rodents who love to feast on the seeds.
Sunflowers like moisture and well-drained soil. Try a mixture of different petal forms, colors, and sizes. Throw some dwarf varieties into the mix to create a more solid appearance, and don’t forget to include a handful of giants to oversee the rest.
Sunflowers are easy to grow and impressive bloomers. They’re also edible! You can leave the seed heads in the garden for birds or collect some and save the seeds for next year. They also make a healthy and tasty snack when you roast them.
Fire and Wine
I’m especially fond of wine-colored blooms right now. Rich, oxblood blooms are so dramatic, and drama is exactly what I want in my garden. This combo of tulips feels like a glass of wine by a crackling bonfire. A perfect combo while the spring evenings still have a chill to them.
Tulips are perennial in cooler climates, but where I live, they only last for one season. You can achieve this color combination with a wide range of flowers, though. If you want to use true annuals, try some fiery ‘Crackerjack’ African marigolds mixed with towering ‘Burgundy’ amaranth.
‘Diablo’ cosmos is always a good idea. They are bright and bold and a favorite of butterflies. ‘Black Knight’ scabiosa gives the combination a rich zinfandel vibe.
Silver and Gold
Silver and gold sounds like it could be over the top, but it’s an easy spring annual flower aesthetic to achieve. There are many gorgeous annuals with silver foliage. Artemisia is soft and velvety, with a white frost over silver leaves. If you live in a mild climate, you might get a couple of years out of silver sage.
Silver shield is an Australian native that likes warm weather. It won’t make it through the winter north of Zone 10, but it makes a great annual. ‘Silver Drop’ eucalyptus is tall, and its multi-branched stems are wonderful for cutting.
When it comes to gold flowers, the options are endless. ‘Butterscotch’ nasturtiums are edible and beautiful. ‘Goldy Honey Bear’ sunflowers are plush and radiate warmth. Of course, marigolds are an obvious choice and are perfect for any occasion.
