A few color tips for designing your 2024 garden

Winter is a good time to start thinking about the 2024 growing season, and I always recommend considering color as an exciting and helpful design element in your home garden.

A few tips: Complimentary colors like orange and blue are opposite each other on the color wheel and can create bright, vibrant effects when combined in the garden. Harmonious or analogous colors like yellow and orange are next to each other on the color wheel and create a visually harmonious effect when used together.

Combinations of hot colors such as reds, yellows, and oranges create vivid and exciting displays since hot colors tend to leap forward in the landscape. On the other hand, cool colors in shades of blue, violet, and green can create a soothing and tranquil effect; they tend to recede in the garden and can be used to exaggerate the illusion of depth. I’d just use a little caution and double check different photos, as the colors you see in some photos won’t be accurate.

• Cleaning your pots is also a great activity during winter months. To clean crusty clay pots, add one cup each of white vinegar and household bleach to a gallon of warm water and soak the pots. For heavily crusted pots, scrub with a steel wool pad after soaking for 12 hours. I recommend storing terracotta pots inside so they’re protected from getting wet — they will absorb water and can crack with the typical freeze/thaw cycle over the course of winter. If you do need to store them outside, just stack them upside down with a cardboard spacer between each pot. You’ll want to elevate the stack from the ground and cover it with a tarp to keep dry.

• If you purchase houseplants in winter, make sure to protect them from cold temperatures. Most garden centers will wrap plants to protect them from cold temperatures but if they don’t, be sure to ask them to wrap the plants for you. Wrapping the plants also protects them from breaking.

Be sure the plants are placed in a stable location when you’re transporting them home — and keep the car warm, especially if outdoor temperatures are below freezing. They won’t like a cold trunk or being left in a cold car for any amount of time.

Once you get your new plants home, set them on a stable surface and carefully tear or cut the wrapper from the bottom up to unwrap. Don’t try to pull the wrapper off the plants as you risk breaking stems, flowers and leaves. Be sure to remove the wrapping within 24 hours. Open the top to allow the plants to get air if you can’t remove the entire wrapping right away.

These steps are simple, and they ensure that your houseplants make a happy transition into their new space.

• Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, chicagobotanic.org.