Color schemes?!? ***UPDATE on POST 15 P2***

[Rusty]

I am really not the best at designing color schemes but I want to "design" my front deck with a blend of peachy tones and I am having a hard time picking the last color.

I want hanging baskets of petunias (2) of Petunia "Flambe":

I want zinnias in the 2 window boxes and thought that this apricot one would look good:

Then I was planning pots of geraniums on each stair up to the deck and thought these Orbits would be nice:

But what has me stumped is the bed right at the foot of the deck. I want marigolds (I love the little buggers!) and thought Janie would be nice. But I have no idea which color: gold, flame, or orange:

Oh, and there is a potted white rose tree already on the deck.

Are these a good blend? Am I going too monochromatic? And which marigold should I use for the bed--or should I use another marigold entirely?

I am just not good at picking colors that look good together. I always admire the ones I see, but when it comes time for me to choose my own, I'm always stumped. I want to order from Parks pretty soon while everything is still available.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!


Rusty :watering

 

[journey11]

Well, to me the orange shades seem to clash with your peach. To make the peach stand out more I would go with something deep red/burgandy (looking for a warm, dark red here) and/or cream colored. Here's some cream colored marigolds I saw today while I was doing my seed shopping: VANILLA IMPROVED HYBRID MARIGOLD (scroll down).

I would stay away from the fiery tones and go for something deeper and darker to make the peach shades pop. The peach is your accent color and you don't want another competing accent color, IMO.

Love those first 3 selections, btw! I had looked at buying those flambe petunias too...they really caught my eye. But I've already got silver wave petunias to plant and they wouldn't have worked well together.

 

[patandchickens]

Personally I really *like* a pink/orange color combination, be it bright or pastels. OTOH if you are not of that mind then the zinnias would definitely be in danger of clashing with the other things you've picked.

Even in a basically-monochrome color scheme, if that's what you like, it is still really really useful to have a touch of some other contrasty color. A bit of yellow in an all-blue planting; some dark red or blue with yellow; etc.

Dark red would probably be my first choice but it's all so subjective and eveyrone has their own tastes. IMO it is hard to go too badly wrong, though, as long as the contrast color exists in limited amounts.

If the bed at the foot of the stairs is not so small, then have you considered using one of the three peachy-colored flowers THERE too, and either adding another accent color *also* or using one of the other locations to add another accent color?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Rusty]

Hmm...you both mentioned dark red. I am off to see what dark reds I can find!

TY!

 

[Rusty]

Found 2 more possibilities:

Harmony has red with gold:

and Tiger Eyes has red with yellow:

Both have some dark red. It is enough dark red? I could add a few zinnias to the bed, also. (It's a small bed).

What do you think?

 

[vfem]

I think you should go with Flame, or tiger's eye

 

[Lavender2]

I dug through my photos ... what a mess! ... :/

One of my favorites with the apricot zinnia was alternanthera... but I think I did the dark apricot zinnia ... I love the profusions! This photo makes the zinnia look darker than it really is tho ...



Alternanthera can get large but can be cut back and look great ... if you like a foliage accent. Very heat tolerant, I liked it!

OR ... what about yellow marigold, apricot zinnia, and burgundy salvia... seems to bring out all the tones nicely...

I like the tiger eye marigolds also!

 

[journey11]

I like the idea of anchoring it with some foliage too. Maybe look into coleus which comes in such a wide variety of colors or something like this dark purple millet. Adding a little texture in the form of something like that would really make your cheerful peachy flowers pop. I still lean toward something darker...but that's just me!

 

[Rusty]

That purple mullet is really pretty. Too bad there is no room. I should have mentioned that the marigolds will go in front of a row of Burford Holly, which is why there isn't room for much more than a row of nice marigolds or zinnias in that bed. The holly bushes are young so there is still room this year in their bed for a few flowers. The bed is right at the foot of the stairs onto the deck where the peach/apricot flowers will go, which is why I am trying to tie it all together with a coordinating color scheme.

If I need another accent color somewhere I could add a few small pots around the base of the white rose tree maybe. But what color should I add there?

Phew. My project seems to be growing!

:weight

Rusty

 

[obsessed]

I don't have any flowers but pink and lavenders are my favorite.