Can you be more specific about what you're looking for? I'm not clear on what you mean by 'plan color'.

Annuals are changed out during the year, this is the annual section, so there should be some rhyme or reason as to what gets planted, when. Not only just the plants but the color schemes.

i think is secret code ....ken

There are resources for color trends. They are mostly focused on florists but could be used to inspire short term seasonal planting as well. Bedding out gives a lot of flexibility and is almost like flower arranging. No long term commitments! Just fun! (And a whole lot of work!)

If you type "flower color trends" into a search engine you will get lots of results. Shades of the same color and a mix of brights both seem to be on trend just now. Other resources include gardening magazines and things like the Proven Winners idea book. PW is trying to sell something so take it with a grain of salt but also because they are trying to sell something, they want to be appealing and trendy.

A lot of it is local taste too. What makes sense in a tropical climate doesn't work in the far north. There are some places where anything other than red, white and blue in front of town hall at Fourth of July would cause an uproar, other places want to be on trend (the "chartreuse and purple is so last decade" crowd) The hardest part is probably anticipating trends early enough to buy sufficient plant material. Good luck with your planting!

" Other resources include gardening magazines and things like the Proven
Winners idea book. PW is trying to sell something so take it with a
grain of salt but also because they are trying to sell something, they
want to be appealing and trendy. "

A lot (perhaps all) of the Proven Winners plants are patented and asexually propagated, and therefore relatively expensive. Public spaces can be "spacious" and in need of large numbers of inexpensive seed-grown annuals.

Some municipal gardens and parks have their own greenhouse(s) in which they can economically start very large numbers of ornamental annuals from bulk-purchased seed.

Brad said " Annuals are changed out during the year, this is the annual section, so
there should be some rhyme or reason as to what gets planted, when. Not
only just the plants but the color schemes. "

By having specific landscaping bed designs available, Brad could decide on one or more designs that are "in vogue" and thus have guidance on what seeds to purchase in bulk. There might be one or more books available on public space landscape design, but changing trends and new annual varieties could cause such books to become obsolete fairly rapidly.

Anyone designing large annual color displays needs to concentrate on ease of care first. Little deadheading required, and few disease and insect problems would be on the top of my list.

Also important is a long, predictable bloom time. The words "blooms from spring til frost" are music to my ears.

Make use of the color wheel to come up with combinations that create the statement you'd like. Soothing, elegant, modern, bold, etc. Three colors are good and white is always a good choice for the smallest amount of real estate. It's a great unifying color.

Be sure to choose the right plants for the site! Be accurate in your estimation of hours of direct sunlight. A bad call can result in a big, expensive failure.

I'd think that in zone 8b that the options would be pretty slim at this time of year. :-(

Actually, "ease of care" has caused us to become mediocre. The person I had in charge of this seemed to move that direction over time, understandable, but he just retired so it's back to me and I recognize that this is one of the few ways that my department can "shine" so I'm willing to put a bit more work into producing better displays. I'm willing to spend the money for the better end result.

Our plants are contract grown and I'm working on a trial bed to test new options. Don't know why you think that those options would be limited this time of year, not at all!

Just to clarify - I didn't mean buy PW to fill plantings, I meant look at idea books to identify trends. Dark foliage is one that has been around for several years for example.

People who can combine plants in new, exciting and beautiful ways - wonderful designers - are rare and precious. If you have one on staff or know one, cherish them. I worked with one for a while who was a wonder.

Most of the rest of us need inspiration. I agree that themes can be really helpful - shades of blue, new introductions, heritage plants, native plants etc. the Victorians used oriental carpets as inspiration for flower beds. Some themes may be popular but unsuitable. Plants for pollinators are a big theme in a lot of the literature right now but probably a bad idea in many public plantings where visitors can become quite nervous about bees.

Masses of things make a big difference. A few bulbs are ho hum, a few thousand are bound to make an impression. Even simple plants like pansies in an abundant, joyful mass are lovely. One of the groupings of plants I'm seeing now are a mass of low plants in a simple color with long stemmed flowers "floating" above. This is different from a solid planting of low, middle, and high plants and looks quite modern and lovely.