Tips on how to work with colours 

Orange: This is a colour to warm your hands by: welcoming, bountiful, glowing like the embers of a fire, it is the colours of the setting sun in autumn, and of the many seeds and fruits that ripen at that time. It is not the easiest of mixers: although it combines well with it’s harmonizing neighbours, it frequently gets overwhelmed by rich, darker colours, such as purple, magenta, violet, and indigo. Offset against strongly contrasting blue, however, a clear orange can leap into life and it is for this reason that oranges are often packed in bright blue tissue paper: it certainly makes them look luscious. Try orange pale mauves and lilacs, and perhaps some turquoise foliage such as eucalyptus or hosta.

Red: Red is the hottest colour in the spectrum. It is also the most intense of all the colours, Especially when it is set off by it’s contrasting opposite colour green (as frequently is with foliage). It is a loud colour that shouts out its dominance, but it also spawns a whole series of pinks, which are composed of varying mixtures of red and white. Red is jazzy, deliberate, and very demanding. It puts us in our place and does not suffer other colours lightly. The contrast of red and white is arguably the hardest of all colour combinations to use successfully, but it can look stunning when interesting textures are involved. Crimson and purple ?the two colours that sit very close to red in the colour spectrum ?often look excitingly lurid when mixed with it.
 

Yellow: The brightest colour in the spectrum is yellow: in flower arrangements, it positively shines and leaps forward. Always looking cheerful and sunny, yellow has a wonderful ability to raise the spirits. Like it’s close neighbour lime-green, it is also good at lifting other colours. Yellow is very well represented in the world of flowers: it is the colour most associated with spring, when forsythia and daffodils dominate our parks and gardens. In summer and autumn, too, there is always a plethora of yellow flowers, and even winter has a few fragile beauties. For the brightest yellow effect, team it with it’s contrasting opposite colour, violet; for its most harmonizing effect, on the other hand, team it with orange.

Gold: An extremely mellow colour, gold is rich without being garnish, warm but not too hot. It lies, rather discreetly and elegantly, between yellow and orange on the colour wheel. Although it is so close to the spring-like yellow in the colour spectrum, gold is more usually associated with autumn and matches the colour of much autumn foliage, as well as many of the flowers that bloom at that time of the year. Golden flowers work particularly well in harmony with reds, yellows, and oranges, but the colour seems to be diminished by many of the more contrasting colours, such as purples and blues.

Lime-green: Lying between green and yellow on the colour wheel, lime-green (or chartreuse) has a very special property ?it has the ability to lift every other colour in the spectrum. Be it with reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, or blues, the addition of luminous, lime-green flowers or foliage immediately brings other colours in the arrangement to life, giving them a fresh clarity and sparkle. Fortunately there are plenty of lime-green leaves and flowers to choose from. Like yellow, lime-green is also a particularly good colour in positions that do not get much light, so it is excellent for use in brightening church-arrangements or with flowers in a dimly lit hallway.

Purple and Violet: Moving from red towards blue, we find purple and violet followed by indigo. Like crimson and magenta, purple is a regal colour: it glows richly, though without their striking brilliance. Lying next to purple, violet is the most withdrawn of the colours and only springs to life when combined with its opposing partner, yellow. Violet is a dark and moody colour with an old-fashioned air about it; it can look muddy and congested when mixed with warm oranges and scarlet. The colour violet takes its name from the common garden sweet violet (Viola odorata), but there are very few, true violet-coloured flowers. The darker shades of purple and violet are sombre, but their lighter variants ?mauve, lilac, fuchsia, lavender, and rose madder ?harmonize exquisitely with each other and with the nearby crimson and magenta.

Blue: This is a complicated colour when it comes to flowers, for there are, in fact, very few true blue specimens. Many flowers listed as blue in plant catalogues have some red in their colouring, mauve and violet than to true blue. The eye also plays tricks with blue, and often a flower that we see as blue is not quite what it seems. Blue is the colour of distance: remote, cool to the point of coldness, but at the same time serene and timeless. It is the colour of the skies and seas of our dreams ?though these are usually far from true blue. Blue mixes easily with greens, whites, creams, and yellows, but it becomes quite violent when it is paired with orange and hot reds. Paler shades combine beautifully with all other colours, but work particularly well with the entire range of pinks.
 

Mauve and Lilac: In both summer and autumn, mauve, lilac, and lavender- and wisteria-coloured flowers are freely available and gardens and flower shops. From the early irises, through hardy geraniums and campanulas, lilac and wisteria, one or two roses, china asters and eustoma, to autumnal Michelmas daisies and chrysanthemums, there are countless varieties in these hues. Mauve and lilac are gentle colours that harmonize exquisitely with each other and also with the richer purples, violet, and magenta ?the colours from which they derive. They also mix deliciously with pinks, blues, silver-greys, green, and turquoise. These paler variants are also interesting when juxtaposed against a clear orange, lemon, and cream, but they tend to be deadened by bright red and gold.

Magenta: A great diversity of flowers lies in the colour range between red and purple. Crimson, magenta, carmine, and blood red ?these are the rich and regal colours with a luminous warmth. They colours that we associate with pageantry and as one might expect, they do not mix as easily with the bold hoi polloi of orange, scarlet, and yellow as with the more stately, sedate, and withdrawn violets and blues. They look particularly stunning when mixed with silver or turquoise foliage, or simply on their own in a harmonizing group. These colours, along with the various pinks, mauves, lilacs, and plums so closely related to them, are a mainstay of the summer flower palette ?starting with peonies, progressing through roses, and culminating in chrysanthemums.

Cream and Peach: These luscious, gentle colours, with just a hint of warmth, are among the most mouth-watering hues to be found. I like to place their soft mixes of pink, orange, and yellow with pale lilacs, mauves, and blues ?combinations that are both fascinating and under used. Peach and cream also combine easily with the two warm primary colours, red and yellow, particularly in autumn arrangements. In the peach range, alstroemeria, gerberas, roses, and tulips are well represented, while among the creams, there are wonderful perfumed roses, freesias, lilies, and stocks. Try combining cream flowers with any of the other colours in the spectrum ?they are less contrasting and demanding than white.

White: Throughout history, white has been a colour associated with purity; both white lily and the white rose have been used symbolically in this way. White has both great clarity and transparency. Pure white is, in fact, pure light and all the whites we see contain hints of other colours. White flowers combine easily with other colours. The strongest contrasts ?white with bright red or strong violet ?are like the opposing colour contrasts in the colour wheel, producing violent effects; harmonious effects are achieved, however, by combining white with pastel shades. Because white is not the showiest of flower colours, many white flowers have delicious perfumes to help them attract insects to pollinate them. Their perfume is, of course, a great additional bonus in our creations.