Pantone has spoken, and their 2026 Color of the Year is… white. Or, more specifically, Cloud Dancer: a soft, airy shade chosen to help us “step back” from the visual noise of modern life.
Designers are already arguing over whether a nearly-not-there neutral counts as a statement at all (who knew a color could prove controversial?) but gardeners? We’re quietly thrilled. Mostly because we all clocked this soothing, pared-back mood long before the color forecasters did.
Think about it: bright white blooms and cream-variegated foliage has always been the backbone of calm, restorative spaces – the sort of gardens that glow at dusk, shimmer under moonlight, serve quiet luxury, and give our tired brains a rest from the relentless clamor of color.
Whether it's an all white garden, or one that uses Cloud Dancer as a zen backing singer against more vivid tones, it's easy to see the appeal for clarity, especially after a few years of maximalism and “more-is-more” planting.
In fact, many experts are saying Pantone's 2026 COTY feels less like a pivot and more like a return to what gardeners instinctively understand: sometimes the softest palette is the most powerful.
Cloud Dancer-Coded Plants
Cloud Dancer isn’t about blending in; instead, Garden Media’s Katie Dubow notes that while their 2026 Kusumi palette highlights soft blush tones and faded petals for optimism, Cloud Dancer embodies "a soft embrace".
“It’s a gentle reminder that even in quiet periods, color still has the power to soothe and lift us,” she adds.
From cloudlike hydrangeas and ivory-blushed roses to the celestial marbling of the Thai Constellation monstera, which plants best sum up Pantone’s 2026 Color Of The Year, then? Here's what Dubrow recommends...
A reblooming marvel that delivers creamy white blooms across spring, summer, and autumn, this compact beauty is basically the Beyoncé of low-maintenance shrubs.
A climbing rose with full, creamy blooms that drape trellises and arbors in cloudlike waves from spring through fall, this one is hardy in Zones 5-9.
Indoors, Cloud Dancer’s influence translates to creamy variegation and bold, architectural foliage. This celestial monstera has dramatic marbling and fenestrated leaves that make it as striking as it is on-trend.
You could also consider the following options...
- Jackson & Perkins® Clouds of Glory Hybrid Tea Rose: a tea rose with classic, high-centered blooms and a subtle blush to its luminous petals.
- White Wedding® Hydrangea: pure, lush, and dramatic without trying too hard, this hydrangea embodies cloudlike elegance.
- It’s a Breeze® Rose in Ivory Blush: its abundant ivory flowers and exceptional disease resistance make this groundcover rose feel low-stress and high-impact.
- Summer Snowflakes: this unusual spring bulbs offer perennial beauty and scores of white blooms, in even the very worst types of soil.
Ignore the naysayers when it comes to Cloud Dancer, then; when it comes to gardens, Pantone’s Color Of The Year feels chic, modern, and timeless.
Plus, anything that proves gardeners were ahead of the trend all along is well and truly a winner in our books!
