If you’re going to commit to a perennial garden, it’s worth putting together a solid colour palette with satisfying complementary tones that fit within a theme. If colour theory isn’t your natural forte, no worries””we got you covered. Garden design is kind of our thing. We put together some flawless colour schemes featuring some of our favourite perennials for Edmonton.
These Spellbinding Colour Themes Will Make Your Perennial Garden Pop
Remember: whether you’re planting in containers or a garden bed, when selecting flowers within your colour theme, try to choose plants with similar care requirements. It will be much easier to keep them all happy if they prefer the same amount of sunshine and moisture!
Here are five gorgeous colour palettes for perennial gardens that look professionally curated, plus some plant recommendations to complete the look.
Jewel Tone Luxe
Rich, sumptuous jewel tones always look chic. Look for perennials featuring cooler shades with blue undertones so everything looks coordinated””think emerald, sapphire, and amethyst. For a little extra glitz, add pops of silver””you can use silver-toned foliage plants, or just choose shiny silver containers. Your planters can fit within the colour scheme, too!
Sapphire Flowers: Blue Salvia, Blue Ice Star Flower, Globe Thistle, Sea Holly, Balloon Flower
Cool Emerald Foliage Plants: Blue Mouse Ears Hosta, Halcyon Hosta, Variegated Bishop’s Goutweed, Canadian Wild Ginger
Amethyst Flowers: Batik Iris, Caitlin’s Giant Bugleweed, Woods Light Blue Aster, Delphiniums, Phlox
Silver Accent Plants: Frosted Violet Coral Bells, Silver Brocade Artemisia, Elijah Blue Fescue, Jack Frost Bugloss
Neon Lights
Light up the landscape with electric-charged hues that glow like a neon sign! Yellows, lime greens, and atomic tangerine tones are the primary colours for this invigorating design theme. Even on cloudy grey days, your garden will exude energy and excitement if you plant these vivid perennials!
Neon Yellows: Citronelle Coral Bells, Moonshine Yarrow, Zagreb Tickseed, Golden Moss Stonecrop
Neon Limes: Colour Flash Lime Astilbe, Bowles Golden Sedge, Gold Standard Hosta, Leprechaun Gold Columbine
Atomic Tangerine: Orange Princess Globeflower, Butterfly Weed, Brunello Lily, Mardi Gras Sneezeweed, Mauna Loa Daylily
Prairie Sunset
Who doesn’t love the swirls and streaks of orange, gold, and pink that paint the sky in a prairie sunset? You can create a garden that’s equally as breathtaking by choosing perennials with multi-coloured petals or leaves in combinations of those three warm-tinted shades. The colour variegation throughout the plants brings so much dimension to scenery. Here are some pretty perennials that fit a multi-tonal sunset palette.
Multi-Colored Sunset Flowers and Plants: Caramel Coral Bells, Terra Cotta Yarrow, Frans Hals Daylily, Big Sky “Summer Sky” and “Sundown” Coneflowers, Fanfare Blanket Flower, Matrix Lily, Arizona Sun Blanket Flower, Sunset Group Bitterroot
Snow White Moon Garden
An all-white garden might sound a bit plain at first, but trust us””they’re amazing! All-white gardens are called moon gardens because they glow in the moonlight! It’s a pretty spectacular display, and there are so many gorgeous perennial plants with icy white blooms that you can plant here in Edmonton.
White Perennial Flowers for Moon Gardens: Common White Monkshood, Rominette White English Daisy, White Clips Bellflower, White Bleeding Heart, White Nancy Spotted Dead Nettle, Snowcap Wall Cress, Bridal Veil Astilbe, Snow-In-Summer, Pacific Giant Galahad Larkspur
Retro Pastels
For those of you who love colour far too much to decide on just a few for one colour scheme, we have a solution! Plant a pastel rainbow””that way, you can plant all the colours, but they’ll still look coordinated and visually appealing. Look for soft, low-contrast, candy-colored shades of pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Here are some perennials featuring sugary sweet pastel tones.
Pastel Perennials: Summer Pastels Yarrow, Magic Fountains Sky Blue Larkspur, Swan Pink and Yellow Columbine, Chocolate Chip Bugleweed, Silver Mound Artemisia, Goliath Alpine Aster, Peach Blossom Astilbe, Yellow Quill Chrysanthemum, August Moon Hosta
If you need some more inspiration to help you put together the perfect perennial garden in Alberta, visit Salisbury Greenhouse in St. Albert and Sherwood Park to explore the shop! Nothing gets the creative ideas flowing quite like browsing the beautiful plant life.
