Exploring the concept of creating art with flowers and foliage, Allen makes it easy to paint your "garden canvas" with a perfect palette of plants in everT shade and hue to achieve a variety of magnificent effects. Here, he simplifies the process of selecting and creating compelling blends of colors to complement home and personal style, be it bright and energizing or more subdued and soothing.

  In the first section of the book, Allen offers five color confidence-building ways to select a garden palette that reflects your taste and style; he begins by walking you through the process of connecting colors both inside and out, so that the interior and exterior of your home and the permanent features in your garden become the canvas upon which you begin to apply your color choices. Allen's approach establishes a color bond between your home and garden that blends them into a cohesive unit while enhancing the beauty of both.

In this landmark guide to transforming your garden settings into living works of art, bestselling author and celebrity home garden designer P. Allen Smith draws on his talents as both master gardener and artist to offer simple ways to create gar-dens that burst with color. In P. Allen Smith's Colors for the Garden, Allen reveals the basic techniques he uses to fashion the kind of jawdropping creations that have made him one of the country's most sought-after garden designers.

Exploring the concept of creating art with flowers and foliage, Allen makes it easy to paint your "garden canvas" with a perfect palette of plants in everT shade and hue to achieve a variety of magnificent effects. Here, he simplifies the process of selecting and creating compelling blends of colors to complement home and personal style, be it bright and energizing or more subdued and soothing.

In the first section of the book, Allen offers five color confidence-building ways to select a garden palette that reflects your taste and style; he begins by walking you through the process of connecting colors both inside and out, so that the interior and exterior of your home and the permanent features in your garden become the canvas upon which you begin to apply your color choices. Allen's approach establishes a color bond between your home and garden that blends them into a cohesive unit while enhancing the beauty of both.

  In the next section, Allen supplies easy yet evocative lessons on how to "'paint" your choice of colors onto your landscape, from creating a garden canvas to applying bold "brush strokes" of color, shading, and texture to the garden setting. Finally, marrying the practical to the creative, Allen provides a complete, user-friendly plant directory a colorcoded resource guide that helps you choose the right plants based on their color theme, growing zone, and light requirements.

Both inspirational and eminently practical, P. AUen Smith's Colors for the ~arden is an indispensable reference for gardeners of all skill levels, and a welcome addition to the best- selling R Allen Smith Garden Home series.

INTRODUCTION 8

Part One

CHOOSING COLORS FOR YOUR GARDEN  15

Connect Colors Inside and Out 18

Reveal or Conceal Your Home 25

Play Off Nature's Palette 31

Feature a Favorite 35

Embrace New Possibilities 42

Part Two

USING COLORS CREATIVELY 49

Create a Canvas 52

Establish One Color Theme Per Garden Room 57

Make Bold Brush Strokes on Your Garden Canvas 65

Frame Your Work 69

Explore the Effects of Light and Time 75

Part Three

COLOR EXPRESSIONS 79

Cool Color Expressions 83

Cool Colors Plant Directory 97

Warm Colors Expressions 113

Warm Colors Plant Directory 129

Neutral Colors Expressions 145

Neutral Colors Plant Directory 161

INDEX 186