A brand new colour called Very Peri has been unveiled by the Pantone Color Institute as the colour of 2022. Yes, there’s a colour institute and there’s a colour called Very Peri!
In layman’s terms Very Peri is a purply blue. A type of blue I love. So it provides me with the perfect excuse to celebrate this lovely colour and to explore how we can inject more of it into our gardens.
But first up I wanted to quickly get to the bottom of four key questions. What the heck’s the Pantone Color Institute? How do they choose the colour of the year? Why was Very Peri chosen as the colour of 2022 and what does it look like?
What’s the Pantone Color Institute?
Like me you’ve probably heard the word ‘pantone’ used to describe a colour and seen colour charts. But I never thought much more about it than that. But apparently there’s a whole company called Pantone, which deals with all things colour related!
And according to the blurb on the organisation’s website, the Pantone Color Institute is part of Pantone. Among other things the Institute forecasts global colour trends and advises companies on how they use colour.
This all reminds me of that wonderful scene in the film ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ The one where Meryl Streep delivers a fantastic monologue about Anne Hathaway’s lumpy cerulean blue sweater…but I digress.
Anyway, part of the Institute’s work includes choosing the colour of the year.
How Do they Choose the Colour of the Year?
To arrive at the selection, colour experts at the Pantone Color Institute™ comb the world. They look at things like the entertainment industry and films in production. They consider traveling art collections and new artists, design, popular travel destinations and fashion. I don’t think my own set of spectacularly lumpy woolen jumpers plays a part in the Institute’s research! But their colour influences may come from new technologies and materials, social media and even upcoming global sporting events.
Don’t ask me how this research all comes together, but it does and for 23 years this has resulted in a Pantone Color of the Year. With the chosen colour ending up influencing lots of industries, including fashion, home furnishings, and even packaging!
What is Very Peri?
Rather than choosing one of its existing colours, for the first time the Institute has actually created a brand new colour as the 2022 colour of the year.
If you were to look the colour up on a reference chart it would be PANTONE 17-3938. But if you can’t be doing with all that faff, take it from me, it’s a lovely purply blue. For those old enough to remember Quink ink and fountain pens, it’s that blue but with a bit more red in it and slightly creamy. (Ooh with my colour expertise I think I’ll be getting a call from the people at Pantone!!)
To be honest, I couldn’t understand the blurb from the Institute explaining why Very Peri is the colour of 2022. But they do say it’s joyous, dynamic and encourages creativity and imaginative expression. And I must say I agree.
So here are some suggestions for gardeners who want to be ‘on trend’ and have more Very Peri in their lives!
Very Peri Coloured Plants
Agapanthus
Agapanthus to my eye is a beautiful flower which captures the Very Peri look – especially if you go for the variety Purple Cloud. This grows about 0.5-1m tall. Or if you want one smaller, the aptly named Lilliput grows to 0.5m but is just as purply.
Whichever you go for, Agapanthus is a real ‘do-er.’ It flowers from mid-summer to early autumn. And it’s such a wonderful architectural plant; great globes of trumpet-like flowers on strong, long elegant stems. This look is left uncluttered by its leaves, which are lush and strappy, but which mass in a mound at the base of the plant.
Agapanthus is a sun lover which will grow well in large pots or in the ground, but it needs good drainage. I have a heap of agapanthus growing at the front of my cottage, where they grow in the gravel. This is nice and free draining and in full sun – everything they love.
I’m also trying to develop some in pots. They haven’t started performing yet, but I’m keeping fingers crossed they will next year.
If you are thinking about companion plants for agapanthus, I think they look really lovely with grasses. Aston Pottery, which I blogged about back in August, has a stunning display of this combination.
They also look lovely with other architectural plants, such as eucomis. Again Aston Pottery has mastered this – though the agapanthus they’re using in this display isn’t the right colour for the Very Peri trend. But you get the gist of how the plant shapes work together!
Very Peri Wisteria
Wisteria is a gorgeous, deciduous climber. It flowers in May and June and while in bloom it’s breathtaking. Long, fragrant flowers almost drip from the plant, which develops a very attractive twisting trunk.
You can grow them to cover walls, go over the front of your house or to cloak pergolas and arches. Some also grow Wisterias as a free standing tree – like the amazing picture above. What colour!
If you want to grow a wisteria as a free-standing tree simply stake the thick woody stem of the plant to a sturdy post embedded securely in the ground. As it grows you remove the unwanted growth along the trunk, allowing only the top to grow.
Now, not all wisterias are the right colour. The wisteria I have growing at the front of my cottage (above), is just about right. (Sorry I can’t recall the variety!)
But ‘Googling’ varieties I think for a smaller wisteria, Amethyst Falls looks the closest to Very Peri. This variety is much more compact than its Oriental cousins, so is ideally suited not only for growing in the garden, but also for large pots.
Or if you want a bigger dash of Very Peri in your wisteria, perhaps Black Dragon which is also called ‘Violacea Plena’ is the one to go for. Black Dragon is vigorous, it’s not self clinging and can grow up to 10 metres tall over 20 years. So think carefully about where you put it, as it will need strong support.
Bluebells
If you want an early dose of Very Peri in your garden then look no further than the old English bluebell (British native). Its colour to my eyes is spot on, and grown in drifts in grass, there are few plants which gladden the heart more than a humble bluebell. What’s more it’s a plant which is being outcompeted by its Spanish counterparts which garden centres often sell. So I welcome this colour trend as an excuse to get a few more British native bluebells planted in our gardens!
I planted a great drift of them in 2020 in the grass near our beech tree (to be less romantic about it, it’s near where we store the bins!) This was part of my Autumn Bulb Planting.
This year I added a few more and will do so each year, in the hope that one day the area will be a haze of blue. Or should I say Very Peri?
If you don’t want to wait until next Autumn, you can also plant bluebells in the green (as young plants once the flowering is done). Just make sure whatever way you do it, you are buying bluebells that are British native and haven’t been pinched from the wild!
Lavender
Lavender is another classic plant which offers Very Peri possibilities. I have a line of Lavendula Angustifolia running alongside the path to my potting shed, and I think looking back at photos of it, the colour is spot on. Pantone would be giving me an absolute thumbs up for it.
It’s a Mediterranean plant so needs sun and drainage. But if you supply these it will reward you with the most delightful aromatic flowers throughout the summer and a garden awash with insect life. Again, if space is limited, you can have this in a pot, on a sunny patio.
Campanula Prichards Variety
Campanula Lactiflora Prichards Variety (milky bellflower) grows like an absolute weed in my garden. So to be honest I take it a bit for granted. But then I see garden centres selling measly pots of this Campanula at whopping prices. I then appreciate how much of it I have – and thanks to its self seeding tendency I have this sea of Very Peri loveliness for nothing!
It’s tall – about 80cm – and bears pretty clusters of purple-blue bell-shaped flowers from summer to autumn. I have mine growing toward the back of my sunny border in a pretty traditional cottage garden scheme. So if you have that kind of planting and want to inject some of the colour Very Peri into it, this is a good plant to try.
Like all bellflowers, this Campanula’s blooms are an absolute magnet for bees and other pollinators – yet another reason to go for this fashionably coloured flower.
Echinops
Another wonderfully sculptural plant which definitely carries the Very Peri colour is echinops. This again grows like a weed in my garden. And its height (I seem to have a tall variety) means mine can start flopping around the place which annoys me intensely. But which ever variety you have, there’s no escaping its beauty – nor its value to the wildlife. Bees love it.
Echinops is also knows as the globe thistle and has spiky leaves and bristly, round flowerheads. Again it comes from the Meditarrean so likes sun and good drainage. But that said I have the plant flourishing in a semi shaded bed too!
Echinops is really low maintenance. There’s no need for any special treatment other than cutting back the plant after flowering. Sometimes, this can earn you a second flush of blooms. That’s why I think it’s such a wonderful plant – and bang on the Very Peri colour trend!
Eryngium
My final suggestion for a gardener who wants to inject some Very Peri into their planting is Eryngium (Sea Holly). In particular the variety called Blue Steel. I’ve selected this one as not only are the dramatic spikey flower heads the right colour, but the stems are a dramatic purply blue too.
I have Eryngium Blue Steel in my sunny border where it provides definite drama.
Having said that, the flower heads of Blue Steel are smaller than some varieties of Eryngium. And many varieties have the right shade of purply blue. Indeed, there are over 250 species and lots of garden cultivars to choose from. So have a good look around before selecting the variety that’s right for you. Just be aware a few are more grey than purple/blue.
Whichever you choose, all have spiny leaves and a characteristic ruff around the flowerheads which I think looks wonderful. And if you are into flower arranging (I’m a bit rubbish at that) they add real drama and form to a display.
Very Peri Possibilities!
So that’s it on the plant front. Seven plants from my garden which to my eye fit with the Very Peri colour released this week. My jumpers may be lumpy and unfashionable but my plants are spot on!