Fill your garden with the colour of the year
Pantone’s Living Coral is available in a range of shades and flowers
The annual colour of the year makes us think of fashion, home decor and all things indoors. But why not take it outside?
This year, Living Coral is the Pantone Colour of the Year for 2019. Coral - or Living Coral - is probably the rarest of flower colours when it comes to the garden. It warms but it’s not as scorching hot as orange, and it will draw attention without being gaudy.
Here are some suggestions to give you the most colour bang for your buck and also weeks of glorious flower power.
Look no further than Superbells coralina, a hybrid calibrachoa and closely related to the petunia. Little is the adjective best used to describe the difference in flower - but only as this plant loads up with more flowers than you can count.
This coral beauty also spreads, making hanging baskets and mixed containers suddenly become a piece of art. If you’ve tried calibrachoas and they didn’t last, then you need to provide sun, water as needed and to feed regularly. If you do this, your Superbells will literally explode with flowers.
A favourite partner with the Superbells coralina is a soft blue. This tone is as rare as the coral, and once put together they form a marriage that is hard to beat.
Saucy coral salvia is another great choice for a colour of the year garden component. It will thrill onlookers, planted in a landscape where its tall spikes of flowers will add intensity to a garden or create excitement all on their own. Hummingbirds and butterflies will become part of a daily visiting regimen.
Saucy coral will reach close to three feet in height and will mostly be used as an annual. The entire Saucy series is worth every penny for the colour and power they deliver.
Saucy salvias like fertile, well-drained soil and plenty of sun. They can also give good performance in part-sun locations. Deadheading will keep those flowers coming. Combine it with your favourite perennial blue salvias, creating informal drifts or sweeps. Intermingling the blue and coral is also dazzling.
The Pantone Living Coral range offers darker and lighter versions, or various saturations, of the colour. The Sombrero hot coral echinacea is a feast for the eyes. There is not a gardener around who doesn’t love coneflowers.
This echinacea is recommended for zones 4-9, so just about the whole country can relish the colour of the perennial coneflower. It will reach about 24 inches tall with a 22-inch spread. Give it sunlight, well-drained soil and you’ll enjoy this treasure for years.