Thanks rcn48. The rest of that bed needs work before I'll show pics LOL. That Fallopia is lovely, and would really glow in the shadowy area! Love that Periscaria to. Nice variegation on the Buddleia; looks like gold dust.
Also been thinking Sambucus'Black Beauty' and one of the dark Cimicifugas would be good. Now to find them on clearance!
Colour Contrasts: Combos with Punch, Pop and Tssssssss
My cimicifuga.."Brunette" in bloom.
You got me thinking.
Something 24" to 30".
Yellow foliage: Since you have lots of pinks and blues, I think yellow-gold would blend better than chartreuse, waddya think? e.g. Fernleaf Tansy 'Isla Gold'. I don't grow it because I grew the green Fernleaf Tansy and was put off by its invasiveness. But this one is supposed to be less invasive but I'm still reluctant, once bitten....and all that.
Purple foliage perennials: Sedum 'Purple Emperor' or the new one 'Black Jack'.
Purple foliage shrubs: Barberry 'Concorde'.
Blue foliage perennials: Blue Oat Grass (nice with Sedum Matrona and pink lilies).
Variegated foliage perennials: Sedum alboresum 'Medio-variegatum', Variegated Iris, Sedum 'Pink Chablis', Yucca 'Color Guard', Persicaria 'Red Dragon' or 'Painter's Palette', Geranium 'Samobor' (nice colour echo with Penstemon 'Husker's Red')
Silver foliage perennials: would also look great with the pastel colour scheme you have going on. Only one I can think of is Artemesia 'Valerie Finnis' right now.
Not variegated foliage, but nice big leaves is Stachys grandiflora Big Betony, which looks great with chives as they bloom the same time, or there's Achillea 'Salmon Beauty', which looks fantastic with Daylily 'Naomi Ruth'.
Something 48" between Zebra Grass and coral rose:
Some suggestions would be a tree peony, or shrub Ninebark 'Diablo', or perennials Eupatorium 'Chocolate' (with blue fescue in front?), Aster 'Lady in Black' (altho it may clash with coral rose). All have nice foliage. If you need a focal point, you could put a pot on a pillar to make it 4' tall.
Here's my fairy on a pillar, both found at a flea market and I repainted them (black basecoat and dry-brushed light blue). I like her!
starzz, 'Brunette' is lovely!
sanannie, Great ideas to ponder! I already have 'Husker's Red' and it works really well. The geranium sounds awsome with it, gotta get those. I've got Periscaria 'Red Dragon' there and it got bigger than I was expecting, but once moved will work well. I had tried some chartreuse sweet potatoe last year-no more-too bright. But the softer golds and creams show better. And I really like the 'Diablo'ninebark for behind the coral rose! OOhhh! I have some chocolate eupatorium in another bed I should definitely consider moving. Lady in Black aster sounds like a good fall option to, and the rose probably won't be blooming very much when the aster does. I have Aster laterifolius'Coombe Fishacre' that has dark stems and probably needs to be moved and may work. Great statue! I love the idea of 'Cornelia' draping over statuary. Sedums are a great idea for the sunny area; it's also dryer and rocky at that end. Thanks for so many wonderful suggestions! Neal.
My favorite flower for pop sizzle and pazzaz ...
Tam
PS: Gazania's in all their glory.
They look real snappy! Great pic.
Pink alstroemeria and Artemisia 'Powis Castle' foliage
I call this "battle of the invasives"! It is Lysimachia purpurea and Oxalis siliquosa 'Sunset Velvet'
The bright chartreuse of feverfew sets off the purple foliage of a Chinese Fringe Flower and the brilliant flowers of a 'Johnson's Blue' geranium.
This one plant is a color contrast that sizzles, all by itself! Lotus berthelotii, or Parrot's Beak, comes in red, orange, or yellow flowering varieties. A very tender, hungry, thirsty perennial, but it can be a show stopper in bloom.
I love this variety of oxalis as it sets off so many other plants for a gorgeous year-round foliage display. Both these plants - Oxalis siliquosa and Plectranthus hybrid - have beautiful flowers, but it is their foliage which carries the show year-round. The oxalis shades from pink to yellow to green, depending on how much sun it gets; while the plectranthus has burgundy stems with a rich purple underside.
There is nothing more classic in California gardens than our state flower, the California orange poppy, and purple lavendar in bloom, in this case the 'Hidcote' variety. The pale yellow flowers of a mimulus peek in the upper left hand corner.
Wow, wow, wow, what a pleasure to see these pics jkom51 - each and every combo is really stunning. Thanks for posting!
jkom51 - thank you for eye candy, very inspiring!
The parrots beak was the other plant in that container with the black & blue salvia guaranitica, lantana and verbena, you can imagine, wish I had picture to share!
Wonderful combos jkom51. Really like the oxalis varieties-great contrasts. And the lotus-parot's beak is so fun and wierd; I love it!
jkom51- Thanks for the lovely pics.This time of year everything is winding down for us in the east. You made me feel so happy with that Calfornia poppy and lavender mix!
This combo was quite by accident, two ways. The mums came about because in my planting the magenta one, part of it broke away and eventually died, so I added what I thought was another small one of the same color to that hole. Imagine my surprise this fall, when the small one was orange! I had no clue what color either of those mums were when I planted them and sowed the gaillardia seed. I don't know if the picture shows it all that well, but the mums echo the colors in the gaillardia! The mums look more pinkish in the picture than they do in real life. Oh, and there were more gaillardia, but I split them up and spread them out and moved half of them to another garden, so there aren't that many in bloom there now. I should have taken a picture before I moved them.
Close-up of the mums:
Oh boy, that's such a nice combo. I also have a purple-orange combo - I was attempting to cover the naked legs of Aster 'Purple Dome' with Zinnia 'Profusion Orange'. I like bright contrasts, but I must say I love your peachy orange better with the purple. Note taken!
Ooooh, pretty!!!
sanannie & kbaumle ~ Those color combinations are absolutely gorgeous!! Mine are all covered as it is to get down to 29° tonight. :~( Trying to extend the blooms a bit longer, if possible. Thanks for brightening my day!! Judy
aaaaaggggg... someone's mentioning frost & an end to the garden season again....
Sorry.
Those combo's are gorgeous! Thanks for the pic's.
Tam
We were supposed to get rain last night and today, but nothing yet. And cooler temps. It's cooler, but still 70° at the moment. No call for frost here yet, in the next several days.
OK - just checked. Its supposed to be a high of 61F on Sun but no low's below
mid-40's. I guess we're OK here for a bit longer too.
And I have a tropical storm now! Tammy's going to bring us all rain on the east
coast. YEAH.
Tam
jkom--just saw your poppies and lavendar---so beautiful and striking and makes me homesick for CA...t.
Rain? What's that? Don't remember our last measurable precip.....so terribly dry. At least the plants are covered with blankets, pots, etc. and not 2' of snow like parts of ND got. Trying to save blooms on mums, Russian sage, Royal Summer TB iris, lantana, coreposis, summer snapdragons, Mexican heather, coleus, gomphrena, - mainly annuals still blooming. Have taken cuttings and seeds, but it's so sad to see the plants fade....even though I love the fall season. At least I can look at your wonderful pics!!!
It's supposed to go down to 40 tonite, please someone tell me i I should take my coleus in, I really want to try and save them. Thanks. :-)
Oh, 40° is OK. We've already done that and lower and mine came through just fine.
Whew, that's a relief! I could live without winter myself. I don't see how you stand all that snow, of course I'm thinking of that movie "Fargo" ,LOL.
I could live without winter too ~ but after 15 years of Minnesota winters, anything else is a piece o' cake.
I only had time to cover one daylily scape with big buds before going to work tonight. Sure hope my mums will be OK. They are just starting to open.
Susan
The frost was heavy this a.m. and 25°. We have to leave for the day, so will have to check under blankets, etc. later to see if everything is okay. Susan ~ sure hope your DL scape survives. I have a couple rose bushes that have a lot of buds yet. Sure hope they made it.
Today is definitely a change. 50° at 11:00 a.m. We're supposed to get into the high 30s the next couple of nights, and then it will warm up again.
Pardon me, everyone, but I have to show my summer contrast bouquet I made today for our weekend family gathering...DD #1 is coming home from CA for a weekend visit and DD#2 is home from college for the weekend and my sis is coming from DC.
I think the little country bouquet has some pop and sizzle, although it doesn't really show up in the pic...(doesn't keep me from posting though!) It's my lantana (again), buddleia, helenium (I think) sedum, basil and the few daisies left in the garden. Scraps from the garden--thought I would pick them before it frosts tonight...
Happy bringing in your plants this weekend. Sob...summer is over I think. t.
Tabasco, Had the same impulse, here's my late summer bouquet of red 'New Look' celosia and eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'.
*sniff*
tabasco, that's gorgeous!! I love the buddleia especially. I just got the bicolor from Dutch Gardens today, and have it planted. I think it will be a couple of years before I see anything like you have, but it's something to look forward to!
tabasco, that's certainly a sizzlin' fall container. It's Canadian Thanksgiving here this weekend and it would look fantastic on MY table ;-) Wish we were neighbours then I could borrow it (heck, I'd even rent it) on Monday, after your weekend visit was over!
PG, now isn't that a poppin' showstopper! I'd put that on my table any day too! You guys are just way too creative! Love it.
tabasco--I never thought of putting lantana into a bouquet and I have tons of it along my driveway. Good job!!
PG--I love the celosia--would have never thought to bring it in for a bouquet. These late summer bouquets can be the most appreciated, I think...
Thanks for your comments, too, ...Sanannie--you can borrow it if you like. I'll have it fed exed to you. Although you probably have much better bloomers in your garden right now..
I hadn't thought of lantana in a bouquet 'til I was looking for an impromptu centerpiece and lantana was all I had that was decent. (Everybody thought it was great last night, btw) I wanted some berries or fruity things for in it, too, but it was pouring rain outside and I could only get to my driveway garden without ruining my hairdo!
I wish I had been using it for bouquets all along.
It's raining today. No gardening. Sob.
It's been raining here for two days and will again today. We have been about 7 inches behind on our rainfall, and we are getting about 2 to 3 inches through this tropical storm. I have some plants that have come in the mail and I need desperately to get them into the ground and now the ground is nice and soft--but wet--so don't know if they'll get done today or not. I've learned a lot through this thread and am renovating my main flower bed, so now I am much more aware of color combos.