Designing a Garden for Color, Not Food: The Dye Plants I'm Growing This Year

GardeningNatural Dye
Written By Andrea Alexander

My current rooftop layout for the 2026 growing season.

Most gardeners choose their plants based on what they want to eat. This year, I chose mine based on the colors I want to dye! So instead of asking how many pounds of vegetables I could harvest, I found myself wondering how many shades of yellow I could grow. 

Here are the dye plants that I’m growing in my rooftop container dye garden in 2026 (New Jersey, zone 7B):

The first Hawaii Marigold bloom of the year!

Madder leaves sprouting from their half-barrel home.

Last season’s indigo crop — I had six plants growing in this 2×4 ft wooden raised bed.

Yellow 

  • Hawaii Marigolds (Tagetes erecta): Large, frilly flowers create rich, golden yellows  

  • Dyer’s Chamomile (Cota tinctoria): Small and delicate blooms create soft, sunny yellows 

  • Weld (aka “Dyer’s Rocket”, Reseda luteola): Leafy stems and stalks create bold, bright yellows prized by dyers for centuries. This plant takes two years to mature, so I have to be patient! I started my weld plants from seed this season.

Orange/Gold

  • Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria): Vibrant flowers create golds and ochres. I grew several varieties to see if they produce different shades, including Dyer’s Coreopsis, Cinnamon Coreopsis, and Mardi Gras Coreopsis.

Red

  • Madder (Rubia tinctorum): Large sprawling roots create reds and rusts. This plant takes three years to develop roots thick enough for dyeing, so I have to be really patient! Currently, my madder is on its second season.

Blue

  • Japanese Indigo (Persicaria tinctoria): Dense, leafy foliage creates blues ranging from soft turquoise to deep indigo. I grew six indigo plants last year and they re-seeded all over my garden this year, so I kept six of the nicest looking seedlings for this season.

By the end of the season, I hope these plants won't just be plants anymore. They'll become pages in my dye journal, samples in my textile library, colors in future weaving projects, and stories for future videos. 

Check out my 2026 early-season garden tour here:

Andrea Alexander