Most people are familiar with the artists' color wheel, with the six main colors of the spokes or pie slices of the circle. The three primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. Combine these, and you get the colors in between-- the secondary colors. So red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and blue and red make purple.  

So what do you do with it?  You mix and match colors to get the look you want. This is art for serious gardeners. You will be painting your garden with plant colors.

The big considerations in a colorful garden are color choice, color intensity, and color tone. Colors should be harmonius and pleasing to the eye (which is in the eye of the beholder).

Color intensity ranges from soft muted shades to harsh colors that make you don your sunglasses. 

Color tone ranges from blue (cool) undertones to yellow (warm) undertones. There are warm reds and cool reds, warm greens and cool greens, warm yellows and cool yellows. Two colors that have no enemies on the color wheel are lime green and most blues. Use them to separate colors that don't do well together.

Attractive garden color combos may be obtained by using opposites on the color wheel or you can use monotone shades of the same color, say light to dark rose. Another attractive combo is to use three similar colors, say pink, rose, and lilac or even one color used on several plants of different habits, textures, or flower form.

A couple of other things to consider are color intensity and tone - hot colors look best with other hot colors; muted colors look best with other muted colors, warm tones look best with other warm tones, and cool tones look best with other cool tones.

Another tip is to plant colors that are harmonius with their setting.

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