Composing for Color

Red is your landscape's percussion, clamoring for attention like the crash of cymbals. The color of blood, heat, and love, red will alert, arouse, and energize. Just a bit of red packs a wallop in the yard -- a whole bed of it lands a real knockout blow.

Acer palmatum 'Trompenburg'(Japanese maple)

• Red stimulates appetite, so plant it near outdoor dining areas.
• Because red encourages activity, it's a smart choice around decks, patios, and outdoor play spaces.
• Red warms its surroundings. It can overheat sunny spots and make shady spots feel less cool.
• Red shrinks spaces visually, a drawback in tight quarters, but a boon in wide-open landscapes.
• Bring out the red in plantings with clay pots, sandstone, brick, and other reddish hardscaping.

Astilbe

• Astilbe 'Red Fanal':16-24 inches tall. Zones 4-8.
• Blanket flower (Gillardia pulchella) Plume series: Up to 12 inches tall. Zones 3-8.
• Fuchsia 'Golden Marnka': 6-12 inches tall. Zones 8-10.
• Impatiens valleriana Super Elfin Series: Up to 10 inches tall. Grow as an annual in all Zones.
• Penstemon 'Chester Scarlet': Up to 24 inches tall. Zones 6-9.
• Petunia Carpet Series: 8-10 inches tall. Grow as an annual in all Zones.
• Scarlet sage (Salvia spendens): Up to 16 inches tall. Grow as annual in all Zones.
• Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) Tahiti Series: Up to 8 inches tall. Zones 5-9.

Bee balm

• Bee Balm (Monarda) 'Red Scarlet,' 'Adam': Up to 36 inches tall. Zones 4-9.
• Cardinal flower (Lobelia carinalis): Up to 36 inches tall. Zones 3-9.
• Daylily (Hemerocallis) 'Red Joy,' 'Red Rum': 16-34 inches tall. Zones 3-10.
• Peony (Paeonia) 'America': 3-3-1/2 feet tall. Zones 3-8.
• Yarrow (Achillea) 'Fanal': Up to 30 inches tall. Zones 4-8.

Crocosmia

• Clematis 'Rouge Cardinal': 6-10 feet tall. Zones 4-9.
• Crocosmia 'Lucifer': 3-4 feet tall. Zones 6-9.
• Flame nasturtium (Tropaeolum speciosum): Up to 10 feet tall. Zones 8-10.
• Flowering quince (Chaenomeles x superba): 4-5 feet tall. Zones 5-9.
• Hibiscus moscheutos 'Lord Baltimore': Up to 4 feet tall. Zones 5-10.
• Scarlet firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea): Up to 12 feet tall. Zones 6-9.

See more red-flowering favorites.
Try planting some of these red and yellow combos.