Pantone’s color of the year popping up in home landscape
If you’ve ever grown flowers, you’re probably a trendsetter — whether you know it or not.
Pantone’s color of the year for 2019, called “living coral,” is a common but beautiful hue found in annuals, perennials and even ornamental foliage.
Tulips in spring, coneflowers in summer and the rainbow leaves of coleus are just a few examples of how this color can be used in a home landscape.
“Living coral emits the desired, familiar, and energizing aspects of color found in nature,” the Pantone Color Institute says on its website (www.pantone. com/color-intelligence/ color-of-the-year/ color-of-the-year-2019).
“To arrive at the selection each year, Pantone’s color experts at the Pantone Color Institute comb the world looking for new color influences.”
To add living coral to your yard, try combining it with flowers in similar hues of pink and orange; or accent flowers in living coral with chartreuse foliage plants.
Houseplant hints
From a sprawling office building to a tiny apartment, houseplants add a touch of nature to any environment. The choices can be daunting, though. How do you know which one to pick?
“When selecting houseplants, most beginners have the best success with foliage plants,” Byron Martin, a third-generation owner of Logee’s Plants, a nursery in Connecticut, said in a news release.
“The newest hybrids go far beyond plain green leaves, so it’s easy to get a lot of beauty and interest by selecting the right plants.”
His suggestions include: • Frydek alocasia, whose dramatic, velvety leaves feature white veins.
• Martha Stewart begonia, which boasts showy leaves in tan, chartreuse and bronze. (Yes, it’s named after that Martha Stewart.)
• White Fusion peacock plant (calathea), whose leaves feature streaks of light and dark green.
Coffee crisis
Not to make you choke on your latte, but “Sixty percent of wild coffee species are threatened with extinction, causing concern for the future of coffee production.”
So says a news release from Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in England, which adds, “Current conservation measures for wild coffee species are inadequate to ensure the long-term future of the world’s favorite beverage.”
Climate change and deforestation in coffee’s native Africa are among the worst threats, according to Kew.
“Among the coffee species threatened with extinction are those that have potential to be used to breed and develop the coffees of the future, including those resistant to disease and capable of withstanding worsening climatic conditions,” Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at Kew, said.
Seasonal chores
Gardens are really starting to, ahem, spring to life, so tackle these chores whenever you can:
• If you haven’t already done so, cut back last year’s growth on ornamental grasses.
• Remove leaves and other debris from ponds and fountains.
• To add some color to your yard or patio, plant cold-tolerant flowering annuals such as snapdragons, sweet alyssum and, of course, pansies.
Diana Lockwood, a freelance writer covering gardening topics, posts on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ mrsgardenperson.