Let’s start with a simple color wheel which is essentially the colors of the rainbow arranged around a circle.  Note that on one side of the wheel are what we call warm colors -- yellows, oranges and reds.

Warm colors (reds, oranges, and yellows) catch your attention.  They are lively and energetic.

Warm colors appear to come forward in the landscape, and seem closer than they really are.  They make big spaces feel smaller. Use them to draw the eye toward features you want people to notice or away from eyesores.  Here, your eye follows the yellow flowers to the trees in the background, de-emphasizing  the buildings on either side.

Keep in mind that each color -- whether warm or cool -- has a range of warmness and coolness.  The effect of these vermilion blooms -- an orangish red -- is far hotter…

… than the reds in these flowers, which are more toward the violet end of the spectrum.

next: Cool Colors