Plant World Inspiration: Radiant Orchid is named Pantone Color of the Year



At the root of it, plants inspire all of us. 
(How otherworldly and magical is this orchid?)

Plants especially inspire art and artists.  

This year, a most exotic plant inspired the Color of the Year selection. 

While the 2013 color of the year, Pantone Emerald, served as a symbol of growth, renewal and prosperity, “this year’s Radiant Orchid reaches across the color wheel to intrigue the eye and spark the imagination,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®.

“An invitation to innovation, Radiant Orchid encourages expanded creativity and originality, which is increasingly valued in today’s society.”
“An enchanting harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is a captivating purple, one that draws you in with its beguiling charm.”

According to the company, “the captivating, magical and enchanting Radiant Orchid is an invitation to innovation, it’s modern and versatile. 


How to use Radiant Orchid
Pantone offers insight and tips for using Radiant Orchid in three key lifestyle arenas:
Fashion, Beauty, and Interior Design.

The company omitted landscape or garden design (!), which is most curious seeing how the Radiant Orchid – a Plant -- inspired this year’s color choice…

No worries, though, as I will take the lead on this pursuit-of-beauty lifestyle element and offer a guide to some equally inspiring purple flowering plants to use in your garden.  

Pantone: Radiant Orchid for Fashion
- Radiant Orchid’s rosy undertones radiate on the skin, producing a healthy glow when worn by both men and women. A dazzling attention-getter, Radiant Orchid permeated the runways during the spring 2014-fashion shows and is already making its way onto the red carpet. Fashion designers featured in the Pantone Fashion Color Report Spring 2014, including Emerson by Jackie Fraser-Swan, Juicy Couture and Yoana Baraschi, are incorporating Radiant Orchid into their spring collections and variations of this hue will carry into men’s and women’s clothing and accessories throughout next year.

Pantone: Radiant Orchid for Beauty
- A modern and surprisingly versatile shade, Radiant Orchid enlivens the skin, making all who wear it feel more healthy and energetic. Blending both cool and warm undertones, purple is an appealing hue for distinctive combinations and flattering to many hair, eye and skin tones.
This multifaceted hue is seductive when combined with red and pairs well with its sister shades of lavender, purple and pink, which provides an assortment of lipstick and blush options. Radiant Orchid’s exuberance also acts as a brilliant finishing touch to nails.

Pantone: Radiant Orchid for Interiors
- Spruce up interior spaces by incorporating this eye-catching hue in paint, accent pieces and accessories. As adaptable as it is beautiful, Radiant Orchid complements olive and deeper hunter greens, and offers a gorgeous combination when paired with turquoise, teal and even light yellows.
Likewise, the vibrant color is sure to liven up neutrals including gray, beige and taupe. Uplifting and bold without being overpowering, Radiant Orchid reenergizes almost any color palette and provides a unifying element for diverse spaces"

Garden Glamour by Duchess Designs: Radiant Orchid for Garden Design – I use quite a bit of purple in my garden designs.  It’s a cool, restful color and regal at the same time.  I frequently pair it with shades of yellow for a striking English garden look – or with shades of orange for a more Mediterranean style. 
It works equally with white and all the different blues. 
And greens, of course – from lime green to deep hunter.   

The Agastache is not only a pretty purple to look at with its at-attention spires but also the faint waft of licorice-scent is a bonus.   
Agastache









There are many plants that show off purple-veined leaves and stems too that make for complementary plants in the garden, easing the tension that an over-planted ornamental garden too often display.  These plants work the same way to balance good container compositions.


Nepeta comes as close to a no-care plant   as you can get – and it comes in two sizes.  
Nepeta

Sea Holly Eryngium maritimum











  
Sea Lavender/Statice - Limonium







Lavender








Spiderwort: Tradescantia pallida







Baptisia - Photo courtesy of "Dave's Garden"


Lilac

Bulbs – from Crocus to allium to sweet, redolent Hyacinths – love the Grape Hyacinth
Grape Hyacinth
– get a bonus with them as they bloom in the spring – go away/hibernate for the summer and then shoot up green, feathery foliage in the autumn…
Hyacinth



Crocus





Allium 



Water Gardens – water hyacinths and lotus and water lily in purple tones distinguish any water garden to make the sight as sensual as the sound of a water garden of any size. 


Climbers - Wisteria, Passion Flower, Morning Glory, and Clematis are the climbing plant “accessories” of the garden that make arbors, pergolas and arches so glamorous with their punch of color punctuating various levels and niches.  
Wisteria 








Clematis
Passion Flower











And of course, Orchids themselves are undeniably the most exotic of plants.  I’ve grown many and love them all. 
The Vanda orchid
Vanda Orchid
and the Slipper orchid are two extraordinary beauties I’ve had the pleasure of showing off. They look like jewelry…
Slipper Orchid



And for those who can’t even muster a moth orchid, try these orchid-looking perennials that bloom in the autumn.  
Toad Lilly – Tricyrtis hirta  - is a perennial flowering plant for the shade garden.  A charming plant – especially when it pops open in the fall when many of the summer beauties have faded. They are great paired with ferns or bamboo.
They are easy to grown and as one of my garden design clients wrote me, “They are crazy beautiful!”   
Don't you agree?
Toad Lily


Below is the link to the video of Pantone’s Eiseman being interviewed by David Shah, publisher at Metropolitan Publishing in London (Pantone HQ is in The Garden State/New Jersey so not entirely clear about this connection…)

But here is Eiseman - on a rooftop overlooking buildings and construction crane. 
The obvious question is why? 
With the gorgeous color and fashion, interior design tips, why oh why didn’t they tape the interview in a garden?  Surrounded by Orchids – Radiant Orchids --  dripping behind Eiseman. 
Or in a room designed and decorated with the energizing Radiant Orchid?
Why isn’t she wearing radiant orchid-inspired fashion?


Eiseman does introduce the color describing how the name alone conjures up the image of its radiant, shimmering, exotic beauty.
And that the color is complex.
She goes on to say that purple is also very symbolic. 
Purple is magical.  It draws you in.  
“It speaks to creativity and wearing it enhances innovation and imbues uniqueness,” says Eiseman.
And that the color also has a beguiling charm. 

It does indeed.


Eiseman and her team claim to comb the world looking for future design and color influences, watching out for that one color seen as ascending and building in importance through all creative sectors. Influences can include the entertainment industry, upcoming films, art, emerging artists, travel destinations and socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from technology, lifestyles and playstyles, new textures and effects that impact color, and even upcoming sports events that capture worldwide attention. 
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