Using 2010 Color Predictions to Plan Next Year’s Container Garden

Nell of Secrets of a Seed Scatterer came up with a great idea that I think could be easily applied to container gardening. Nell got the idea to use Pantone’s color forecast for 2010 to pick color combinations in the garden. Brilliant!

Acording to Pantone, the three top colors for Spring 2010 are aurora yellow, tomato puree, and eucalyptus green. Here are descriptions of the top ten:

• Turquiose is “calm ocean waters and tranquil beach vacations in cool, vibrant, tropical” tones.
• Tomato puree is a “classic red that can be paired with turquoise, another Pantone hot hue, for a retro look.”
• Coral fusion is “warm,” “provacative,” and “inviting.”
• Violent “lends a romantic air to the warm-weather palette.”
• Tuscany is “a warm beige hue, provides the perfect backdrop and works well as a solid base color.”
• Eucalyptus is described simply as “is cool and classic.”
• Dried herb is “is the ultimate green neutral.”
• Pink Champagne is a “delicate, wispy tint…the season’s newest neutral.”
• Amparo blue has “more warmth than the typical spring navy…[and] is extremely appealing because of its brighter, more energetic attitude.”
• Aurora is “a yellow tinted with green that gives off a burst of energy.”

Obviously all these colors can’t be found directly in flowers and foliage. I doubt you’ll be able to find a plant with turquoise or amparo blue leaves or flowers. But that doesn’t mean you have to exclude them from your balcony garden plans. Those colors could be used on the containers themselves, or on any furniture or pillows you have out there. For example, check out this outdoor fabric:

Or this one:

But the real fun, at least for me, is imagining combinations of plants. The color combination that really jumps out at me when I look at the Pantone colors is tomato puree and fusion coral. Maybe with a little pink champagne.

Dark, medium, and light colors of the same or similar shade can look pretty traditional, if that’s your thing. Or, if you want to kick things up a notch, mix in some of that turquoise in your patio furniture, or maybe one particularly gorgeous glazed pot.

What colors do you think will a lot of in next years garden?