When spring approaches at the speed of jet and think about the planting of mixed containers (but maybe with a little fear of the partnerships), think about three -part harmony. It certainly works in church music and is also perfect for gardeners!
In the world of garden color we call it triadic harmony. Simply expressed: Triadic Harmony is three colors that are controlled at the color wheel. In the mixed container or basket, this would be three flower colors to create pleasant harmony.
Rowe Farms is not just one of my favorite breeders of seasonal flower color, but her Facebook page is a textbook on design ideas. Although they are in Jacksonville, a small town in East Texas,, their product can be found in Dallas, Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Houston and Shreveport and locations.
They recently had some recipes that would soon hit garden centers. One was called the main time and the other was Santa Belle. If you find prepared baskets or planters, of course you have your design creation. If you find the individual plants for sale, you can copy the recipe. But Prime Time and Santa Belle, although they were created with different plants, have one thing, and that is color. They each have red, blue and yellow in a perfect triadic or three -part harmony.
The Primetime recipe contains three Supertunia Mini Vista Petunias, Yellow, Indigo and Scarlet, which will blind all summer. Superbell's grape punch, pomegranate stamps and yellow calibrachoas could have achieved a similar look or a similar recipe. This did the recipe of Santa Belle, but with Laguna Dark Blue Lobelia, Superbells Yellow Calibrachoa and Superbena Scarlet Eye Verbena.
The red, blue and yellow scheme is one of the easiest for gardeners. I used Superbena Violet Ice Verbena, Supertunia Mini Vista Scarlet Petunia and Superbells Yellow Calibrachoa. Triadic Harmony with red, blue and yellow delivers a lot of blind and simple fashion.
Last spring I did another container with some of the new flowers of this year, virtuoso karmine dahlia, Stardiva Blue Scaevola and Supertunia Safran Finch Petunia with happy yellow flowers. The colors were perfect!
If you have noticed, the rules for triadic harmony, especially for flowers, are not demanding or mandatory, but approaches. Some of our blues were violets and indigo, and even Superbells grap punch is purple with Blackeye, but looks blue all day.
Always remember that substitute fabrics are allowed. One of my favorite containers from a few years ago had Superbells Grape Punch Calibrachoa, Supertunia Mini Vista Scarlet Petunia, and since I did not receive a yellow flower, I used Snow Princess Sweet Alyssum with white flowers as a perfect replacement. You say, white is the lack of color, but I'm not sure if I buy it when it comes to flowers.
Red, blue and yellow are a harmony for beginners. Take a look at the color bikes online and select your favorite color. Then you can see which colors are the same distances apart. I like orange, so one of his colors is green, which of course comes from leaves.
You may have heard an old saying that only works closely with horseshoes and hand grenades, but I assure you that it also works when choosing harmonious flower colors.
Plan for spring and follow me on my Facebook page @Normanwernthegardenguy to get more photos and garden inspirations.
© 2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.