Good Growing

Take your landscape from random to remarkable. In this Gardenbite episode, Illinois Extension horticulture educator Emily Swihart explores how color theory can help you create a more cohesive, attractive, and intentional garden. Learn the difference between analogous color schemes that create calm, harmonious plantings and complementary color combinations that deliver bold contrast and visual impact. From choosing a favorite plant as your design anchor to selecting flowers and foliage that work together, Emily shares practical tips for using color with confidence. Whether you're planning a new garden bed or refreshing an existing landscape, this episode will help you stop guessing and start designing with purpose.

Topics covered:

What analogous and complementary color schemes are
How to use the color wheel to guide plant selections
Ways to create a cohesive garden design
Tips for balancing bold color combinations
How foliage color and plant texture enhance your landscape
A simple step-by-step approach to designing with color

Contact us! 
Chris Enroth: cenroth@illinois.edu
Ken Johnson: kjohnso@illinois.edu 
Emily Swihart: eswihart@illinois.edu 

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Creators and Guests

Host
Chris Enroth
University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator serving Henderson, Knox, McDonough, and Warren Counties
Host
Ken Johnson
University of Illinois Extension Horticulture Educator serving Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Morgan, and Scott Counties

What is Good Growing?

Talking all things horticulture, ecology, and design.

Emily:

Welcome to the Good Growing podcast. I am Emily Swihart, horticulture educator with the University of Illinois Extension, coming to you today from Milan, Illinois with a Gardenbite. Today, we are diving into one of the most impactful and honestly most fun ways to level up your landscape, color. We are talking about how to intentionally design with color instead of just hoping your plants look good together. We are exploring the power of using color schemes, specifically analogous and complementary color schemes.

Emily:

If you've ever stood in a garden center holding a few plants and wondered, do these even go together? This episode is for you. By the end, you'll have a simple framework for choosing plants that visually work together, not against each other. Let's start with the big idea, designing around a specific color. A lot of gardens come together by accident.

Emily:

We buy what's blooming, we buy what's on sale, or what catches our eye. And there's nothing wrong with that. But if you want that wow factor, it helps to start with a clear visual goal. So what does that look like in practice? Instead of asking, what should I plant here?

Emily:

Instead, ask, what color do I want to experience in this space? Maybe you want a calming space with, cool purples or blues, or a bold energetic space with reds and oranges, or a cheerful mix of yellows and warm tones. Another strategy is to start with a plant that you love. Let's say you love purple coneflower, or maybe a bright orange butterfly milkweed is your, plant of choice. Or maybe it's a chartreuse ornamental grass.

Emily:

If you have one of these, that plant becomes your anchor. From there, everything else is built and selected to support it or enhance its visual appearance. This is where people often go wrong. They treat every plant like it needs to stand out equally. In a garden, visual appeal is strengthened by a hierarchy.

Emily:

And when you embrace the idea, decisions become easier, and your garden instantly feels more cohesive. Before we go any farther, I want to do a quick refresher on the color wheel. For those watching, you can see one version of the color wheel here. For those listening, picture a circle with all of the colors of the rainbow arranged around it in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, known by elementary students everywhere as Roy G. Biv.

Emily:

Now here are the two key relationships we're gonna work with today. Analogous colors. These colors are next to each other on the color wheel, such as red, orange, and yellow, or green, blue, indigo. Complementary colors then are colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel, such as purple and yellow, red and green, or orange and blue. Go Illini.

Emily:

That's it. This simple framework can help guide the color choices for the garden, and these color relationships have a huge impact on how your garden feels. Analogous colors, the ones next to each other, can create harmonious, soothing feeling landscapes, while complementary colors provide high contrast in a garden and are attention grabbing. So let's break each of these down one at a time. Analogous colors are the colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel.

Emily:

And because these colors are sitting next to each other on the color wheel, they create combinations that naturally feel cohesive and easy on the eyes. There is no visual conflict. The colors blend smoothly together and they transition smoothly from one to the other. So let's say you are building a garden using analogous colors. What does this look like?

Emily:

So let's use the example of yellows and orange tones. Perhaps you choose plants like the Coreopsis, Black Eyed Susan, and Orange Zinnias, or the Orange Butterfly Milkweed. Everything feels warm and glowing and unified. Maybe you lean into the cool tones. Perhaps you have salvia, allium, catmint, and penstemon all each next to each other.

Emily:

Now you've created a space that feels calming and cohesive. I favor analogous color schemes because they are beginner friendly, meaning they're hard to mess up. They also create a sense of calm and a sense of flow in the landscape. The only challenge I see with using analogous color palettes in the landscape is that it can sometimes feel a little too uniform or can lack contrast. To avoid this pitfall, rely on the other principles of design in your garden.

Emily:

Use a variation of texture and form. Mix in grasses or broadleaved plants for some different textures. Use spiky flowers and round flowers for a contrasting form in your flowers. This adds interest without breaking the color harmony. You can play with the tones of your colors.

Emily:

Using a pale yellow with a bright gold maintains that color palette that you have chosen while adding variety and dimension. Or you can add subtle accent colors. A small pop of a contrasting color here and there can create a focal point without overwhelming or detracting from the design. Now let's flip the script and talk about complementary colors. Remember, these are those colors that sit directly across from each other on the color wheel.

Emily:

Classic pairs include purple and yellow, blue and orange, and red and green. These color combinations are bold, and they create instant contrast and visual energy in the landscape. What does this look like in a garden? Well, it might be purple monarda next to a gray headed coneflower, or purple salvia planted next to a bright yellow coreopsis. It might be orange lilies paired with blue delphiniums, or red cardinal flower, or red roses contrasting with green color scheme.

Emily:

These combinations are stunning, and they are immediately eye catching. The advantages of using a complementary color scheme is that they create strong focal points. When they are used near each other, they immediately make the other color appear more vivid, and this can add drama and excitement to a landscape. One of the challenges, and a word of caution, is that this color scheme can also feel chaotic at times or can feel overwhelming if we're not careful about the use. So to avoid having too much of a good thing, try using one of the colors as the dominant player in the landscape.

Emily:

So the dominant color perhaps would be red, and green would be the backup. A rough estimate for percentage might be using 70 to 80% of the dominant color in a space and filling in the rest 20 to 30% with the accent color. You can separate your colors with space or with foliage. Green and white foliage or green and white flowers can be used as a neutral to reduce the visual tension and give the eye a resting place while observing the garden. Repeat the pairings throughout the garden.

Emily:

This creates a rhythm instead of having these random bursts of bright contrasting colors. So how do we actually apply all of this to our landscape? Here's a simple step by step approach. First, pick your starting point. Is it a favorite plant that you want to build your landscape around, Or are you going to choose a color scheme to highlight in your landscape?

Emily:

If you are choosing a color scheme, do you want it to be a calm landscape? Then maybe go with an analogous color scheme. Do you want bold contrasting colors? Then that's complementary. Once you have chosen which scheme you're going to go with, get down to the details of your scheme by choosing the specific colors.

Emily:

In an analogous color scheme, do you want warm or cool colors? In a complementary scheme, which pair are you drawn to? Your red and green? Are you blue and orange, or are you purple and yellow? Once you have your color scheme selected and the plants that correspond with this choice, you want to layer in supporting plants into your landscape.

Emily:

Consider having a variety of different heights, of bloom times, and textures to add visual interest to your garden all year long. Don't just focus on the flower color either. Foliage matters. Foliage can come in a variety of colors and can reinforce your selections of your color scheme by adding purple foliage, chartreuse foliage, variegated foliage. It matters.

Emily:

And then finally, edit ruthlessly. If it does not support your color vision, it does not stay in your garden. This can be hard for some gardeners, but I promise if you are going for that visually impactful landscape, this is what you need to do. At the end of the day, designing with color isn't about rules. It's about intentional choices.

Emily:

Whether you're creating a peaceful retreat with your blues and purples or a high energy space with bold contrasting colors, the goal is the same, creating a garden that feels good to you. Do this by choosing a color scheme to help you simplify the decision making process so that next time you are shopping for plants, you don't just grab what's blooming. You are thinking about how these colors will work together and reinforce your goals in your landscape. Well, was a lot of great information about using the Color Soda Theory. Have a simple creative garden choosing your dreams.

Emily:

Not Good Growing podcast is a production that I know is not just specific to this by accident. Emily Swihart. Buy what's on sale. There's nothing wrong with that. Doing what you do best, and that is listening.

Emily:

Factor you start with a clear, watch, visual goal. And as always, keep growing. That look like in practice? What should I plant here? Instead ask, what University of Illinois Extension.