Gardens go peach perfect
You’ll be keen on Pantone’s pick for 2024 when choosing flowers
Amelia Nash just wrote an article for printmag.com and her headline was exactly my thoughts too: “Pantone is Keeping Things Warm, Fuzzy and Peachy Keen for 2024.”
The article is great, and you could sense her excitement over the new color of the year, and The Garden Guy couldn’t agree more!
If you haven’t seen the announcement anywhere, Pantone, the gurus of all things color, has designated Peach Fuzz the 2024 Color of the Year. I’ve been writing about Pantone’s Color of the Year and giving the selections a relationship to the garden and flowers for several years.
I have felt a bit lonely in this endeavor because only a few companies joined in to promote their flowers that were a good match. This year, however, it has been like a wake-up call. Even before I knew about Peach Fuzz, I was getting posts from all of the major suppliers joining in the idea, showing off their varieties that were a close match to Peach Fuzz.
This is where Amelia Nash hit it out of the park with her “Peachy Keen” headline. Peach — particularly the Pantone designation of Peach Fuzz 13-1023 — has to be one of the rarest colors in the garden. It is the color we suggest to those garden club ladies who get heart palpitations at the thought of flaming colors like Electric Orange.
Peachy Keen, you see, is a variety of Superbena verbena. The initial florets of the flower cluster may show a richer, more saturated peach, but it is not long that you see the array that Proven Winners describes as peach tones from apricot to cream. This verbena gets up to 12 inches tall with a 24-inch spread. In my zone 8 garden, I expect it to be perennial until its not. Usually I will get three to four years of glorious color and butterflies. It would probably go longer if I did a better at cutting back.
The site colorxs.com has the best explanation and visual examples teaching the color scheme and harmonies with Peach Fuzz. Their monochromatic chart or display is the perfect lesson on what we as garden gurus or horticulturists try to teach on toning down hot oranges with peach, coral, salmon and cream. As you look at what is really similar to a paint store chip card, you realize that Superbena Peachy Keen blossoms have all the colors on the monochromatic card.
Then there is yarrow. It is among the toughest flowers for the garden: persevering, colorful and magical with pollinators. Did you know they are not on the Bambi menu? Firefly Peach Sky is probably new to you. In fact, I find it amazing that garden centers don’t have shelves of yarrow; much less you are lucky to find a flat. Start sourcing Firefly Peach Sky. It can reach almost 3 feet in height with a 32-inch spread. It will bloom most of the summer and is perennial from zones 3a to 8b.
Meant to Bee Queen Nectarine agastache is a must-have plant, even if you aren’t a color scheme aficionado. You will be able to tell your friends oh yes, it is the Pantone Color of the Year. All the while you will be growing it for its beauty, bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. It is an award winner and will reach 3 feet tall and wide. It is perennial in zones 5a to 9b. If you look at the analogous color scheme on the colorxs.com site you will notice that Meant to Bee Royal Raspberry agastache is a perfect partner with Queen Nectarine or whatever your peach flower choice.
There is one more flower, however, that will bring rose lovers to their knees. It is Flavorette Honey-Apricot, making its debut in 2024. If Empress Josephine were alive today, this rose would be at her Malmaison garden. It looks as antique or heirloom as any rose in the market. Its fragrance demands you cut and bring indoors. It is disease-resistant and, believe it or not, its petals are edible and delightful for the culinary artist. You can celebrate this as the focal point in your cottage garden because it can reach 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide.
You’ve got time to plan and source your flowers and join the celebration of Peach Fuzz, the Pantone Color of the Year.
Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” He receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.