A Guide to Natural Plant Dyes

July 2, 2026

Plants that produce dyes

The settlers made most of their dyes from plants.

Herbs, vegetables, fruits, trees, and lichens all were used to make dyes. But flowering plants were used most often.

Each flowering plant created its own color.

Leaves, flowers, stems or roots were used, depending on the plant and the dye color desired.

Some plants could produce more than one color. Mallow (“Swamp Mallow,” Hibiscus moscheutos), for instance, can produce both brown and black.

Harvesting

To get the best dye color, settlers had to know what part of the plant to harvest and when to do it.

Generally, leaves were harvested in the spring; roots in the fall. Some plants, like madder, could be harvested only once every three years.

Plants in the Dyer's Garden

In the late 1700s, settlers used flowering plants to create dyes in shades of yellow, orange, gold, red, blue, purple, tan, beige, brown, and black.

In those days, flowering plant varieties were pretty straightforward. Settlers did not have the great variation of plants that we have today (due to crossing and hybridizing for certain characteristics such as flower color, plant height, etc.). As much as possible, the plants in this garden are the same basic varieties the settlers grew.

Key:

Annuals flower for just one year.
Biennials flower every two years.
Perennials flower every year.

Introduced, as it is used here, means the plant was not growing in this part of America before the settlers arrived. They brought it with them.

Native means this plant was growing in this region before colonization by Europeans.

Plants Used Most Often for Dyeing

Baptista

Baptisia australis

Native perennial, grows 3-4 feet tall and wide. Pea-like flowers, followed by pods. Leaves are blue-green and oblong.
Leaves are used for dyeing, producing a blue color.

Black-eyed Susan

Rudbeckia subtomentosum

Native perennial, growing 2-3 feet. Golden flower blooms in the summer.
Leaves and stems are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing gold and dull orange colors.

Cosmos

Cosmos sulphureus

Introduced annual, growing 2-3 feet tall.
Flowers are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing an orange-yellow color.

Dyer's Coreopsis ("Tickseed")

Coreopsis tinctoria

Native annual, grows 1-2 feet tall. Yellow, maroon, and tri-color, flowers that bloom mid-summer.
Flowers and the entire plant are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing gold, orange, and rusty red colors.

Hollyhock

Alcea rosea

Introduced perennial, growing 4-8 feet tall. Dark rose and red flowers in summer.
Flowers are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing yellow, gold, and brown colors.

Madder

Rubia tinctoria

Introduced perennial, grows to 2 feet tall.
Pale little flowers from June to August, followed by red to black berries.
Roots harvested after three years used, producing shades of red with alum mordant, including the red coats of the British Revolutionary War enlisted soldiers.

Mallow ("Swamp Mallow")

Hibiscus moscheutos

Native perennial shrub, growing 3-6 feet tall. Showy rose flowers bloom mid-summer to autumn.
Flowers are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing brown and black colors.

Pot Marigold

Calendula officinalis

Introduced annual, growing 1-3 feet tall. Bright yellow flowers with a long growing period: June to October.
Flowers are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing yellow and green-yellow colors.

Purple Coneflower

Echinacea purpurea

Native perennial, growing 2-5 feet tall. An important pollinator in the garden, flowering June through August.
Leaves and stems are used for dyeing, producing a gold color. Flowers used for dyeing produce a light purple color.

Woad ("Dyer's woad")

Isatis tinctoria

Introduced biennial, grows 1-3 feet tall. Narrow and lightly serrated leaves. Yellow flowers bloom in its second year of growth.
Leaves are used for dyeing, producing a blue color.

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

Native perennial, grows 2 feet tall. Leaves are almost feathery in appearance.
Flowers are tiny and disk-like, blooming May to July.
Flowers and stalks are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing yellow color.

Zinnia

Zinnia elegans

Introduced annual, growing 1-3 feet tall. Red, orange and pink flowers.
Flowers are used for dyeing with alum mordant, producing beige and tan colors.

Other Plants for Other Purposes

Flax

Linum usitatissimum

The settlers grew Common Flax for making linen.
Introduced annual, growing 2-3 feet tall. Sky blue flowers that open for only one day but the plant itself blooms profusely for up to eight weeks in the spring.
In the Dyer's Garden, we currently have Common Flax, as well as Perennial Flax (Linum perenne), which is pictured here and very much the same in growth habit and appearance as, except it is a perennial. It was also introduced.

Lavender

Lavandula angustifolia

Introduced aromatic shrub, growing 3 feet tall. Purple flower spikes and evergreen leaves.
Settlers had few changes of clothes. They used dried lavender to scent their garments.

Dye Color by Plant

A lot of color variation could occur in making dyes. A yellow dye could be a bright yellow or a green-yellow or an orange-yellow, and so on.

And sometimes one plant could produce several different colors (see Purple Coneflower and Mallow [“Swamp Mallow”]).

Given all these possibilities, the following is a very general guide for the dye colors obtained from various plants.

Reference: The New England Unit, the founding unit of The Herb Society of America. www.neuhsa.org