Flowers Come in a Variety of Shapes, Textures, and Colors!Color is a vital part of your overall floral design. The color palette you choose helps your arrangement look bright and vibrant or soft and elegant. Whether a client has requested a specific color scheme or you’re creating a design from scratch, you have a lot of choices for flower color palettes and floral accessory colors. Follow these tips for choosing the perfect flower color combinations to wow your customers.
Go Bold with Complementary Colors
Complementary colors of purple and yellow and green and pink make for a fun, bright floral arrangement.
Many artists and designers refer to a color wheel when picking color palettes, and you can, too! Color wheels arrange the colors of the rainbow so you can easily see how they relate to each other. The closer colors are on the color wheel, the more alike they are. The farther away two colors are, the more different they are.
For a bold flower color palette, choose colors that fall opposite each other on the color wheel. These “complementary colors” will play off each other and make each other pop. A few examples include:
- Violet and yellow
- Orange and blue
- Magenta and lime green
You can also play with other color combinations for a dramatic contrast. For instance, mix “warm” and “cool” tones for visual interest. Or create a backdrop of light-colored flowers to show off a few dark-hued focal blooms.
Make Harmonious Designs with Similar Colors
Similar colors like pinks and purples give floral arrangements a harmonious, put-together look.
When using a color wheel, you’ll see “analogous colors” that sit next to each other. Mixing similar colors in a floral arrangement can create a harmonious look. You can do this by mixing:
- Pinks, reds, and purples
- Reds, oranges, and yellows
- Blues and greens
If an analogous color palette feels bland, play with the value of your colors. Color value is how light or dark a color is. So, you might put light pink flowers with deep purple and medium red blossoms to create some variation.
You can experiment with saturation, too. A bouquet of muted pale yellow and peachy orange flowers will have a very different look than one made with bright yellow and flaming orange blooms.
Create Monochromatic Looks that Pop
Sometimes, all you need is one color to create a stunning bouquet.
You don’t need a rainbow of colors to make a gorgeous floral arrangement. Using flowers of the same color can have a lovely effect. You can easily create a monochromatic look by using one type of flower in the same color, such as a vase of romantic red roses. You can also do monochromatic designs with different types of flowers, such as several species of white flowers in a religious arrangement. An arrangement made of flowers in several shades of a single beautiful color is still monochromatic and anything but boring!
Get Inspired by the Seasons
You can't go wrong with floral color palettes inspired by nature's beauty!
You can look beyond color wheels for color inspiration. Every season offers beautiful natural palettes that are easy to incorporate into your floral designs.
Spring:
Use pastel pinks, blues, yellows, greens, and purples. White is a good spring neutral.
Summer:
Go bold and bright with tropical colors like hot pinks, oranges, yellows, lime green, blue, and magenta. Red, white, and blue work for patriotic summer arrangements.
Autumn:
You can go bright with reds, golds, and oranges or tone things down with muted shades of all colors.
Winter:
Whites and silvers look wintery. You can also use cheery winter holiday colors like reds and greens or shades of blue. Don’t forget pink and red for Valentine’s Day!
Pick the Right Vases to Show Off Your Favorite Flower Color Combinations
Don’t forget the vase color when choosing flower color palettes! 46 & Spruce has a wide selection of vases to choose from. Shop online and find other florist supplies, too. We even offer a Professional account with valuable perks for florists like you. Have questions? Our helpful customer service representatives have all the answers you need when you contact us.