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The Gardener's Color Palette: Paint Your Garden with 100 Extraordinary Flower Choices

By Tom Fischer

Photographs by Clive Nichols

A celebration of color.

Philadelphia Enquirer

Choosing color is one of the most delightful and personal choices a gardener makes. For one gardener, the shock of a garden full of pink and red is a picture of beauty. For another, white flowers may be more tranquilly inspiring.

The Gardener's Color Palette features ten plants in ten color groups and offers gardeners hundreds of opportunities to mix and match. Want a red garden? Choose the 'Crimson Star' columbine, the 'Lucifer' crocosmia, and the 'Gardenview Scarlet' bee balm. For a metallic garden plant the Japanese cobra lily, the Chocolate cosmos, and the Kamchatka fritillary. Or, create a multicolored array by picking plants from each category. Plant profiles include a description, the common and botanical names, information about expected height and spread, bloom time, hardiness, and light and water requirements.

Combined with Clive Nichols' stunning photographs, The Gardener's Color Palette is an invaluable source of practical advice and visual inspiration.

Filed under: color, plant directory, annuals, beginner, bulbs, garden design, perennials, shrubs

Format: Paperback
Pages: 236 pp.
Book dimensions: 7 x 7 in. (180 x 180 mm.)
Images: 100 color photos
ISBN-10: 1604690844
ISBN-13: 9781604690842
Product code: 689084

Media reviews

"Whatever your approach, this is a fun, fun book that will guide you through playing with color. It's a great gift for a newer gardener who might be just starting to design their garden. Experienced gardeners will also enjoy using the book to fine-tune their combinations."

—Meghan Shinn, Horticulture

"Fischer has arranged the volume to represent all the colors of the rainbow and beyond ... to help gardeners and lovers of flowers create colorful and visually interesting gardens that come alive with color."

—American Reference Books Annual

"A joy to leaf through."

—Deborah Roberts, Garden of Possibilities blog

"While Clive Nichols' phenomenal photos were what attracted my attention, Fischer's writing was what kept me reading. ... Fischer makes it clear that color is a joy that should be wholeheartedly embraced in our gardens."

—Colleen Vanderlinden, In the Garden Online

"A celebration of color, but it's practical, too. Fischer suggests plant and color combinations that will appeal to experienced gardeners without intimidating new ones. Not always easy."

—Virginia Smith, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Fischer's enthusiasm for flora shines through. ... Whether he's suggesting eye-catching plant pairings, or offering cautionary advice about aggressive spreaders, Fischer will inspire gardeners to think about incorporating selections from the book's outstanding bevy of perennials, bulbs and shrubs, native, and tender species."

—Alice Joyce, Booklist

"A delicious little book that arrives just in time for spring planning."

—Kylee Baumle, Gardening by the Book blog

"It's a handy little reference book and it will certainly get you in the mood for spring and a new gardening season."

—Jane Berger, Garden Design Online

About the author

Tom Fischer

Before moving to Portland, Oregon in 2004, Tom was the editor of Horticulture magazine in Boston, Massachusetts. His experiences as a bi-coastal gardener and his inexhaustible curiosity about plants have shaped his new garden, which in 2008 was profiled in The Oregonian. A prolific writer as well as an editor, his articles have been featured in magazines such as Garden Design, Gardens Illustrated, and Martha Stewart Living.