Wendy Floral: Call me mellow yellow

I’m not exactly mad about saffron, but I do love the seasonal yellows I am seeing throughout the garden. As it happens, a yellow shade, Illuminating, is one of the 2021 Pantone colors. (The other pick is a nice gray.) Usually, I couldn’t care less about the shades Pantone anoints yearly, and get annoyed when they make their way into plant marketing, but this one had me nodding in agreement. Then there was the article proclaiming, “If there were a color that represents happiness in the garden, it would have to be yellow.” (It was not this source, but was syndicated in something else I saw and forgot.) The article also notes, “Yellow’s complementary color is violet or purple.” Absolutely. I have often striven for this in tulip pairings, though the Akebono Darwin hybrid—yellow semidouble with red edging and green at the base—is so spectacular it should never be forced to share space with any other tulip.

I use yellow columbines with violet veronica on the alley behind our house. The happy columbines grow tall enough to stand on equal footing with two yellow climbing roses back there. My favorite yellow rose is David Austin’s Charlotte.

I fell in love with begonias last year, mainly the fuller tuberous ones, but these Regers are also fabulous, mainly for their color. They are being used throughout the space, from front to back, either in pots or providing a touch of color to the black shade of the front garden. Yellow foliage plants? Of course, including hakonechloa grass, hostas, and heuchera.