grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven & friends The Colour Guide Mini Series #3: Turning a palette into a planting plan - Episode 263
Feb 26, 2026
Practical tricks for turning colour ideas into real planting plans. Simple methods like candles, mood boards and vase experiments to test palettes. A three-part recipe — bride, bridesmaid, gate crasher — for arranging plant roles. How to break the year into chunks so colours pass the baton through the seasons.
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Test Palettes With Coloured Candles
- Use coloured candles to test and refine garden palettes before planting.
- Sarah Raven keeps a box of vivid candles to view colour together realistically against green rather than tiny swatches on white.
Choose Physical Mood Boards Over Small Swatches
- Use physical mood boards or real flowers in hand rather than only digital swatches for realistic colour decisions.
- Sarah prefers picking stems in a garden and photographing or putting them in a vase to live with the palette.
Use Bride Bridesmaid Gatecrasher Recipe
- Build combinations using a bride, bridesmaid, gatecrasher recipe for clear hierarchy.
- Choose a dominant 'bride' flower, a supporting same-colour 'bridesmaid', and a contrasting 'gatecrasher' for punch.