I have a huge bed at the front of our property (full sun) that I want to devote to 3 colors of perennials. It seems that coneflowers bloom a long time here. So, I'd love to see if anyone has some combos with that flower.
If any of you have worked with a color wheel, I'd like to know what you thought about that approach.
I'd love to see what combinations you all have had success with.
Glad you posted this question too. I ordered a Annual and perennial color planner wheel and a plant swatch from LeeValleytools catalogue and I can't figure out how it works yet. One wheel is for flowers that are low growing, the next wheel med height and then the outler wheel is for tall bloomiers. The plant swatch is like a paint chart. That's easier to understand.
There are some beautiful gardens and I have either printed out their pictures for a guide line or written down nice combinations posted that I like so I can remember it in 2011.
Oh, that's interesting. I remember someone saying something about laying out a garden like, "pants, socks and shoes" meaning tall, medium and short. I also remember someone saying to do container gardens as, "Thriller, filler and spiller" meaning the interesting or colorful plant, a follage plant and something that hangs over the edge.
I went to a talk on landscape design this year and the man talked about using colors that were across from each other on the color wheel, colors that were in a triangle pattern from each other and colors that where variations of the same color. He said to limit your colors to 3. I have not purchased a color wheel yet. I was going to look for one on Amazon.com.
I suffer from what he calls "crapus collectus." I have this mismash of plants that individually are interesting, but put them together and they don't flow well. Of course, alot of them are from friends and virtually free. LOL
I have had other unplanned combos like this daisy 'Becky' and 'Stargazer' Oriental Lily that turned out well.
One of my combos I like. TN coneflower, cosmos, and liatris.
Don
Another combo I like. Tall bellflower and black-eyed Susan.
Don
I like Hot Lava Coneflower and Prairie Sun Rudibeckia together.
One more. I like this false sunflower (heliopsis) with the white yarrow.
Don
Yea! Photos I LOVE PHOTOS!!!
It is so much easier for me once I see something.
Here is something my husband brought home a few years back and it comes back every year. I'm thinking it comes back from root; however, I'm not sure. I know it as 'Mexican Petunia.'
I wonder if anyone has tried planting this behind coneflowers?
I've read on here that Mexican Petunia - ruellia - is extremely invasive. I planted it a few years ago and it ended up dying out on me - I guess our winter was just too cold that year for it.
Ditto on the coneflower/liatris combo. An added benefit is that the butterflies love both flowers.
I might have to rethink that 'Mexican Petunia.'
'Obedient Plant' is another invasive plant if it finds the right spot.
I was told it was called that because you can turn the little trumpets on there and they stay put once you turn them. Kids think that is very interesting.
I also like Coneflowers and wild phlox together. The colors are similar but the phlox are hardy enough to thrive in the middle of the coneflowers. Plus they smell good.
My second year winter sowing I planted "purple" coneflowers. When they bloomed the second year, I found out they were cross-pollinated. I like them like that.
Don
this is my all time favorite combo
Above picture is from about 4-5 yrs ago...this is same bed,up a few feet from opposite side,mostly the same but I've been adding plants.I was trying to get a picture of the korean burnet in the foreground,was to close and got a glare...sorry
Pepper23 - I do like the phlox combo with the coneflower. Phlox are pretty hardy in my garden.
DEMinPA- Are both white and pink on the same plant?
bigred - do you know the name of the white flower? I see a wild flower around where I live that looks like that.
Is the 'Korean Burnet' a wild flower? Does it look like this pink flower in the picture below? This pink flower is just something that showed up in the vegetable garden.
your flower looks like japanese knot weed/polygonum
white flower in first picture is Queen Ann's Lace a nautralize european native. Korean Burnet is sangisorbia(sp?)You should be able to google Korean burnet and get the correct spelling.
Just thought I'd pass on a site that i just found through browsing..Lazy S' farm nursery in Barboursville, Va. has a wonderful website and if you click on a specific plant, it will show you different combinations that work well together. I bookmarked it for future use for myself. I read how they pack their plants for shipping and I'm impressed and I would order from them in a flash. Look them up in plant files or Dave's top nursery listings.
I've ordered from Lazy S for years. Packed well. Extensive inventory. Owner is very personable.
I think her name is Debby Sheuchenko.
On more than one occasion, she has sent a plant I ordered, but didn't charge for it, since she wasn't sure it looked like it was thriving.
Quite refreshing compared to other experiences when you receive a plant carcass on life-support at full charge.
Here's vernonia (ironweed) along w/ daylily.
You can't tell from the picture, but this daylily is 6ft tall!!!
I looked at the Lazy S website and found lots of links to public gardens.
Weerobin- that is a wonderful color combination.
Do any of you interplant herbs or host plants for butterflys? If so, what plants do you use?
This is a rue plant if I remember right. I think it has some kind of swallowtail caterpillar on it.
I like to plant parsley with all my plants. The cats go nuts over it.
This bed has the blue of Caryopteris, Plumbago, East Friesland Salvia, Veronica, and Liriope flowers; sherbet colors of Daylilies; yellow and purple Iris on the back rim (out of bloom, here); and Magnus Coneflowers. When we have enough rain, it looks spectacular. :-)
Here are the Irises showing off before the others wake up...
Lovely, Debra. What are the dark red flowers in front of the Iris?
pepper23 - that is funny about the parsley. I've planted catnip and the local kitties don't seem much interested.
Debra - lovely iris Thanks for posting photos.
Here is an oxalis I think it is 'Iron Cross' that has come back for me several years and even naturalized in a different area. I have it in part shade.
pagancat, those are Dianthus. Fourth year, so they are pretty sturdy to survive our dry summers.
darlindeb, you are welcome. I love to take pictures of the flowers growing in my yard, so thank you for giving me another opportunity to share them. :-)
Debra
darlindeb, your caterpillar is a Giant Swallowtail...Very cool!
I grow fennel for the Black Swallowtail Butterflies to lay eggs on. I leave some out but also bring some in to raise.
Really - you raise them indoors? We might need a new thread for that, lol!
Wow, Deb - that's amazing, in my climate the irises wake up long before the Dianthus.
darlindeb - I wish I could get oxalis to grow for me more than one season! I plant the bulbs every year and they are so pretty then they never come back. I've tried different spots in my yard, even different varieties but no luck. I think I must be the only person that it doesn't grow for - lol
I'm with you, Sheryl, my irises are way ahead of my dianthus.
Here is a close up of the Dianthus. They are darker than the camera shows, but still a vibrant color.
Lots of us do! We share our experiences over here on the Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening Forum!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/bbb/all/
I released a beautiful male this morning!
nanny_56 -How interesting about raising butterflys.
Here is a part shade combo that works well near the Oxalis.
I think I'ver heard the fern called 'Ostrich' and the pink flowers I only know them as 'Naked Ladies' LOL.
Those are Resurrection Lilies, Lycoris squamigera -- also know as Naked Ladies. :-)
This is a pretty plant in the spring if it is full of blooms. I do think it has a tendency to be invasive. 'Missouri Primrose' is what someone told me it was.
Ack, darlin..you just printed a picture of my worst nightmare......It's showy evening primrose and it took me almost five years to get rid of it - at least, I haven't seen it this year yet. It is pretty but very, very invasive.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/236/
The Missouri primrose is the yellow one.
Janaeston - Thanks for the info. Most of mine actually died out this year. I think I waited too long to rake the leaves off of it.
Here is another plant that likes to take over. I know it as soapwort.
Mine is in a raised bed and acts like a groundcover. If you put it up against the Showy Evening Primrose, I think the soapwort would
win
I've never had soapwort myself,,and now that you said it might won against evening primrose, I won't! LOL
I have a soapwort called 'Max Frei', very pretty & not invasive.
Here's an accidental pretty combo.
Due to rain overnight, my usually upright patrinia is now at veronica height.
A nice yellow backdrop for the veronica, at least for today.
Edited to say ... maybe that's a salvia!
Oh well, it was a pleasant scene regardless of their true identities.
This message was edited Aug 14, 2010 3:06 PM
