Colour of the Year 2026 - Transformative Teal

Every year the hugely influential colour trend teams at Pantone, and Worth Global Style Network, each decide on a key colour : one that reflects leading fashion and style trends, and one that reflects our current global emotional mood.

Their thousands of clients, who control hundred of thousands of major brands, will take these colour trend predictions, and use them in our homes, our cars, our clothes, the packaging and products around us.

 

Usually, all the big colour trend teams and style houses are in general agreement on the emotional mood of the globe, and on the form that takes in the colour palette.

This year is very different, with three completely contrasting themes and colours fighting for our attention. Which one do you prefer?

 

Colour of the Year - Worth Global Style Network

Worth Global Style Network (WGSN) announce their colour of the year for 2026, a deep almost metallic blue-green they call Transformative Teal.

Did you know? The colour teal gets its name from the freshwater teal ducks, which have a patch of bright blue-green on their wing, or a metallic green head.

WGSN focuses on our physical as well as mental wellbeing, for their colour choice.
They say of Transformative Teal :

" [it's] a fluid fusion of blue and aquatic green that reflects the diversity of nature and taps into an Earth-first mindset.

It represents change and redirection, and can help encourage resilience in the face of complex climate challenges "

" a fusion between dependable dark blue and aquatic green... [expressing] the life-changing experience of witnessing our home planet from space "

 

As well as the teal ducks for inspiration at the top of the post, you can also get colour ideas for your garden from some of our native parrots; especially the Psephotellus family :
hooded parrot, mulga parrot, golden shouldered parrot, and red-rumped parrot.

Photos : David Cook; Nik Borrow; Nick Athanas

 

Colour of the Year - Pantone

For 2026, Pantone has selected a cool-tone matt white they call Cloud Dancer.

In Pantone's words :

"a lofty white neutral... a whisper of calm and peace in a noisy world"

If you find white calm and peaceful in your garden - and it absolutely can be - then you are in luck.

There are heaps of beautiful white flowers in nature - we've made a separate post for this trend because there are so many white flowers and foliages to choose from!

 

Colour of the Year - Ikea

For 2026, Ikea has stepped into the arena, wearing a soft warm-tone pastel they call Rebel Pink.

In Ikea's words, the colour is :

"a bold response to the need for joy, energy and self-expression”

"it’s not just a color, it’s a movement that invites people to push boundaries and embrace individuality."

Ikea uses the colour heavily in products aimed for children, and in whimsical items such as a fake fur-covered chair and legging boots.

The shade is very reminiscent of Millennial Pink, the pale pastel beige-pink that was everywhere a decade ago.
Maybe Ikea (like many of us) wishes we could go back to pre-Covid times when everything seemed rosier and less serious.

For a dose of nostalgia in your garden, there's an abundance of flowers and even foliages that will give you this soft, cosy, fun feeling.

 

Transformative Teal Plants

Could your garden use a transformative change of direction?

We've selected some plants to give you a macrocosm of our Pale Blue Dot in the microcosm of your back yard.

Transformative Teal : Key Flowering Plants

There are a few families of favourite garden plants that are made for this colour trend - and surprisingly, one or two are flowering plants!
These unique plants will transform your garden into a teal paradise.

Clockwise, top left : Kings Park and Ramm Botanical's amazing unique kangaroo paws in never-before seen colours. They've been flying out of our nursery gate since we added them to the range.
Masquerade has shimmery blue-and-green flowers, and Fireworks blooms in blue-green, emerald and pink - unusual enough in the plant world, and positively magical for native kangaroo paws.

Echinops, commonly known as sea holly, shimmers navy blue from thistly stems to raspberry flowers.

Agave hybrid mangave Purple People Eater holds strong colour in its leaves through the year, changing from blue-green to purple.

 

Transformative Teal : Key Foliage Plants

It's much easier to find foliage plants to suit this teal trend. In fact there's a botanic term specifically for this blue-green colour; look for the word glauca in the plant's name.

Xanthorrhoea glauca is a native grass tree with blue-green leaves, in contrast to the more usual all-green colour of Xanthorrhoea johnsonii and other species.

 

Clockwise, top left : Conifers are great for glaucous colour. Here, one of the best, Naylor's Blue, which has elegantly weeping fronds all year long on this tall conifer.

Juniper Skyrocket will give you a similar shade in a super-slender upright conifer too; or choose the popular pencil pine, Cupressus glauca.

Covering the ground, Juniper Blue Carpet, a dense bushy blue-green relative of the very popular shore juniper.

And staying petite, for those without the room for Naylor's Blue and the taller junipers, Pyramidalis holds blue-green colour right through the year; and with a natural teardrop outline it makes a first-rate living Christmas tree.

 

Clockwise, top left: Blue fescue, Festuca glauca, is a fast and easy way to add silvery-blue-green shades to everything from patio pots to landscaping projects.

Grassy carex can be a natural revegetation plant for wild spaces, or a brightly coloured ornamental grass for flower borders, or here, a gently coloured blue-green grass to lift your landscaping from meh to yay!

Blue Wave is a short ground-hugging carex, Blue Cascade is taller and more, well... cascading in habit. They look great planted together!

New to our range in 2025, little bluestem grass is a north American prairie grass with shades of purple, plum, maroon, and steel blue through the year. Effortless low-maintenance colour.

Speaking of which, new varieties of native blue flax lily (Dianella)from Aussie breeders Ozbreed bring the blue-green to your garden spaces.

Cassa Blue and Clarity Blue have the strongest teal-toned shades.

Plant these with native lomandra Frosty Tops and Lil Bluey, for a grassy mix of thick and thin leaf textures.

 

Clockwise, top left: Blue star fern is a lovely foliage colour plant for frost-free sheltered shady places. It grows happily indoors too if you get cold winters.

Peace lily Blue Moon is one of our General Manager's favourite indoor plants, for the shimmery blue-green of its leaves as well as the big bold size.

Alocasia are much sought-after for their amazing leaf colours; this one, Nebula, runs the gamut of teal shades and gets more strongly marked as it matures. Spectacular, for those with green fingers and thumbs.

Finally, succulents of all kinds have such a broad range of colour, especially in unusual shades of silver-grey-pink-blue-lilac. One of our favourites is Graptoveria Opalina, a chubby ombre rainbow of teal to lavender. Her sister Debbie is a slender version, just as richly coloured.

Rebel Pink Plants

Could your garden embrace your personality more, with joy and self-expression?

We've selected some plants to give you ideas for adding energy and fun to your outdoor space.

Rebel Pink : Key Flowering Plants

Clockwise, top left : Delicately shell-pink bells from spring decorate this abutilon Pink Clouds Chinese lantern ; also flowering in red, yellow, and white it's the perfect plant to add a fun party mood to your garden. Easy to grow and full of flower from go to whoa, no wonderosteospermums are always so popular for gardens and patios.

Beautiful hedging all year in frost-free climates, Rondeletia blooms winter to summer in gentle peachy-cream - butterflies love it! Its sibling Sweet Caprice gives you a stronger musk-pink tone flowering later through the year, to plant alongside.

A little tougher, and ripper hedging, Indian hawthorn has varieties like Springtime, Apple Blossom, and Cosmic Pink that flower in warm pastel pink, rather than the more commonly-seen white.

 

Rebel Pink : Key Foliage Plants

Clockwise, top left : Variegated abelia is a beautifully coloured variety this popular hedging shrub that is vibrantly patterned all year round. Small and neat, with sprays of white flowers, it's easy to find a home for, even in a pot on the deck. The leaf colour changes through the year, one phase is this lovely peach-pink.

Coporosma, or mirror bush, are aptly named for the super-shiny foliage. This variety Rainbow Surprise also featured in last year's colour trend, Peach Fuzz; it's got a lot of colour going on every month of the year!

Rubber plants - Ficus elastica - are often overlooked as colourful foliage plants, grown more for their robust easy care attitude and bold size; but this variety Tineke gives you cream and lilac and plum and pink-peach patterns to enjoy as well.

Tiny but mighty for Rebel Pink lovers, fittonia Pink, the petite snakeskin plant, it's pocket-sized and packed with colour. We love Pink in particular as each leaf is cutely wiggled along the edge!