The Flower Color Combo That Makes Apricot Blooms Pop

Apricot blooms have a warm tone that begs for pairing, and done right, these soft oranges can truly pop alongside certain color combos. Color theory can be incorporated successfully in various landscapes, including gardens, allowing you to use the same information that artists, graphic designers, and even psychologists use to design the perfect colorful garden. Blue sits opposite orange on the color wheel, and the contrast makes orange feel more vivid. Mixing blue and orange annuals in the same bed creates a lively yet balanced palette, and is especially effective when aiming for a garden design that feels both bold and intentional. But, you can also use one of orange's analogous colors, like yellow, to create a palette that feels both radiant and refined. 

While yellow creates analogous harmony with apricot, pinks and whites can add further dimension to your garden. Soft pinks enhance romantic charm. Yellows may bring a sunny, energetic feel, but planting white flowers in your garden softens the other colors and adds a sense of peace while enhancing the romance of the palette you've created by making the colors nearby seem brighter. Once you've established which colors you want to use, you can continue layering in blooms to enrich your garden palette and make your apricot flowers pop. 

For a soft, inviting summer garden, start by pairing flowers like apricot zinnias or the beautiful, low-growing, ground cover rose variety that is the 'Apricot Drift' rose (Rosa 'Meimirrote'), with a non-invasive yellow yarrow (Achillea millefolium) such as 'Summer Pastels'. Then, layer in blush pink cosmos and white snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus) for additional contrast and cohesion. All of these will grow well together in full sun (six or more hours).

When it comes to adding in complementary blue tones, it might be tempting to add bachelor's button (Centaurea cyanus) flowers for their true blue shade, but you may regret planting this beautiful blue cornflower variety in your garden since it's so weedy. Apricot flowers benefit from careful staging, especially when paired with colors that contrast or support their unique softness. Therefore, you don't want to use flowers that will mess up your staging and invade the space like bachelor's button. An alternative is Delphinium 'Summer Skies'. It grows well when planted in full sun with well-drained soil. 

Staying with the full sun theme, tall garden phlox flowers (Phlox paniculata) are available in shades of blue and purple, and offer flexible color layering by complementing the apricot orange, yellow-orange, and yellow tones in your garden. By thoughtfully combining colors based on the color wheel and choosing sun-loving varieties, you can build a harmonious and high-impact garden centered around your favorite apricot flowers.