Since all plants have the potential to inspire colorful gardens – either through their flowers, berries, bark or foliage – a little “Color 101” can help you create the most pleasing combinations.

This captivating boat that has outlived its usefulness as a watercraft is now a planter for colorful perennials and bulbs. A bright red coat of paint and plants to its gunwales complete the maritime motif.

Photo Credit: ©2001 Dolezal Publishing/Robert J. Dolezal

The hue of hydrangea, whether purple-pink or purple-blue, is determined by the acidity or alkalinity of your soil as much as by the plant variety you’ve chosen. An amazing change occurs when you mulch your garden bed with acidic compost like leaf mold in the spring as leaves begin to form – the hydrangeas absorb nutrients released from the soil and change the color of their blossoms from last-season’s pink to this year’s deep purple.

Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Yvonne Williams

An individual color is called a hue, and hues are arranged in groups: the primaries are red, yellow and blue; their complements are green, violet and orange. Between these are the intermediary hues such as yellow-green. Hues may be lightened with tints or darkened with tones. Color schemes are described in three different groups:

Monochromatic: Uses a single hue for all blooms – such as a yellow garden. These gardens feature foliage contrasts, size variations and shapes to create excitement.

Analogous: Includes a group of hues set next to each other on the color wheel, such as all the hues between red-orange and yellow-green. These groupings always look good together, but the look can sometimes lack drama.

Complementary: Features colors opposite on the color wheel, like yellow-orange and blue-violet. Complementary color schemes are exciting, although they can also be busy and distracting.

Green leaves dominate in every garden and have an effect on adjacent flower colors: reds dazzle, yellows deepen and blues shift toward violet. Yellow-green leaves brighten hot colors and contrast with blues and violets; red foliage enriches warm shades; and blue gray foliage blends with whites and pastels, as well as cools down oranges.

White is a strong presence in the garden. White dilutes dark, rich colors; dulls yellows; brightens pastels; and sharpens reds, blues and greens.

The intensity of light affects colors, too. Brilliant sunshine makes dark colors shine. Pastels glow in the shade.

The proportions of a color affect how it’s perceived. For example, scarlet oriental poppies look brighter than a red-blooming Texas sage because the poppies are bigger and bolder compared with the sage’s diminutive flowers. If you want a bright red effect, the poppies are the right choice. If you prefer a subtle touch of red that mixes with or brightens other colors, the red sage is a better option.

Garden designers rarely work with isolated colors. They often match architectural elements when determining color choices. Check around your home and garden for color: Is paving blue, gray, tan or red? Must plantings coordinate with walls, picket fences or the color of the house? Use a color wheel to help establish a color palette for your garden.

Artists and graphic designers use a color wheel to determine combinations. Flower garden designers also benefit by planning with color in mind. Look for an artist’s color wheel at a local art or craft store. Most color wheels are flat disks printed with 12 hues of varying intensities topped by a revolving disk with windows to show relationships between hues. The wheels present the primary colors across from their complements. They’re also divided between warm and cool colors. To use a color wheel when you choose plants and building materials for your design, just take the easy steps shown in the following pictures and described in their captions.