Everyone's a gardener in April. That is when cars almost automatically turn in the direction of garden centers where everyone stocks up on their favorite plants for spring.

For many people, the first choices are some of the many annuals that are already in bloom with the promise of more to come in the months ahead.

The choices are dazzling, particularly in the great range of colors that are in the marketplace now. And that raises a question about how to combine this fabulous array in your flower beds.

The first rule is to follow your heart. Most everyone has favorites on the color spectrum. These colors such as bright red, vivid purple or cheerful yellow make them happy at the first sight. Don't be afraid to walk into a garden center and tell yourself, “I really like orange,” or “This year, I'm going for violet.”

Once you know this, you can forge ahead. Then, surrounded by all these colors you realize you will not be happy with just one.

That's when the wonderful task of mixing them awaits. Some gardeners may fear this, thinking they may do it wrong and mess up the entire summer. But those of us who practice mixing colors know it works every time.

That is because the colors of nature go together beautifully. The most beautiful flower beds I have ever seen combine many colors.

If you are just beginning, look at this task in a couple of ways.

The first is varying tones of one color. Pink and yellow flowers, for example, come in many shades from pale and soft to bright and vivid. It is the same with purple, which ranges from palest lilac to deepest violet. Tones of the same color always look good and interesting together. This is especially effective in large containers or hanging baskets.

Another approach which never fails is to choose the three primary colors — red, yellow and blue — and mix them up with various annuals. This makes a beautiful sight, refreshing, vivid and easy to accomplish with the range of choices on the market today.

You do not have to make a clear, one-third division among these colors. It is fine if one, red million-bells or yellow marigolds, dominate. Let the blues and yellows provide the supporting cast. Yellow, even in small amounts, will add zing and zest to a bed.