Sunset test garden intern Tanya Eggers's hot-color cutting garden
Photo: E. Spencer. Toy
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To celebrate sunny colors, Sunset test garden intern Tanya Eggers designed this cutting garden around a sizzling palette of yellow, orange, and red.
Her goal was to plant flower beds that looked good in the garden and also provided blooms for bouquets over a long season.
It’s easy to create a palette that’s too bright, Eggers says, “but when you add almost-black purples and rich burgundies, they act as a grounding force.”
The result: blazing beds and cool bouquets.
The beds and the blooms
Two half-moon-shaped beds, each roughly 3 feet across and 11 feet long, make up our amply sized but still manageable flower garden (one bed is illustrated to the left; the second mirrors it). A gravel path separates the beds, both edged with Sonoma fieldstone. The planting plan sticks to fiery colors but adds splashes of lime and chocolate to temper the heat. Look for plants in 4-inch and 1-gallon pots.
Next: Get our planting plan & harvesting tips
