I haven't met a flower I didn't like. That being said I am drawn more to oranges, reds and yellows. So my gardens have alot of those colors. But I also love garden phlox and I have those in every color. I'll also take salvia in any color I can find it. I pop white in here and there not because of any plan but usually because I saw a really cool white flowering perennial and bought it. Oh and thanks alot Alicia, you reminded me why I wanted to get some garden amaryllis. Adele

I always like cooling color. Not a fan of oranges and yellows sometimes. They just make everything feel so dry and desert-like to me! Who knows...i'm weird.

Salmon pink is really hard to place for me but otherwise anything goes. I once thought I didn't like red in the garden but then I planted some of the red salvias and now they're indispensable to me.

I never think about color when I put stuff in. I used to dislike the color orange, but now I really appreciate it (especially in the garden where it's boldness can really be of great effect). I'm drawn to blues and purples, but I like everything in the garden. I admire people who can pull off great color combinations, but for me it's always an accident. I just get plants without thinking and then stick them where there's room. And I have a design degree...

alicia- you're right- i don't care for pink. but, i do have it and use it in the garden anyhow- just not as much as other people. if i can only get a certain plant in pink that i like the form of, i find a way to use it. i don't mind it in combo with blues and purples and wines. i hate red mixed with pink- ugh. i do like deep magentas- it's just the medium baby doll/pepto pink i don't care for. i actually don't like any of the pastels at all. my gardens use bright, saturated colors for the most part. i'm funny about yellow and use it sparingly- i like chartreuse and saffron, but don't care as much for bright med yellow unless it's used with red or orange. what can i say? i'm weird about color (in all things) and always have been. i tend to group according to color- and color block quite a bit- so often color is more of a motivator for me than the cultural requirements - but i do figure that in next. i like when a red block blends into orange, which in turn blends to yellow, etc. it has a nice rainbow effect on a long bed. that's how i started, anyhow, and through the years stuff has reseeded around so now i have strange combos. sometimes i move stuff and sometimes i just try not to look. :)

Although I like the actual colors of Artemesias and similar gray leaved plants, I've always avoided using them because I've never been able to find a combination that I thought looked good. Recently, though, I saw a photo of a blue Hosta next to Japanese Painted Fern (it was a gorgeous combo)and I think a gray leaved plant would be great with these. Unfortunately though, these 2 plants like shade and I believe most of the gray leaved plants prefer sun. But I'm not giving up on this idea just yet.
In terms of flower color, I'm not a huge fan of cool pinks or purple pinks but love warm salmon pinks. I really like some of the terra cotta/brown colors that are popping up here and there in both foliage and flower. I saw a photo yesterday of a brown daylily that was just awesome! (It was also quite expensive, sigh). I keep fantasizing that some day I will create a chocolate garden. Think about it - what could be better than gardening and chocolate?

I don't avoid anything. In fact, I'm contrary enough that sometimes I go for 'color dissonance' on purpose.

I like to create "theme gardens," whether they be color themed, cultural, or what I call "feels like" themed. I DO stick to certain colors within the categories. I just planned a perennial bed with white, pink, purple and blue. I would NOT put yellow flowers in that area, but yellow is one of my favorite colors to use elsewhere, say with grey leafed plants. I think the only flower color that has been lost on me is green. I say this having seen very few flowers in the color, but as I ponder, I can't think of anywhere in my gardens that NEEDS a green flower, you know?
---Keith
p.s. I agree that red and pink together is horrible.

I like pinks and pastels in shade and saturated primary colors in sun. Not a fan of mauve. Salvias are my favorite and I have lots of clear blues and reds with them.

Something I have seen (here actually) that I love is a plain leaf burgundy coleus planted with blush and light pink flowers in shade. I plan to try that this year in front of a white wall with some variegated groundcover.

I think it depends on the plant for me. For example I don't like orange or lavendar roses. But I love lavendar irises. With roses I guess I am drawn to pink since most of the ones I have are that color. I love red salvias and sages. Of course I try not to plant certain colors that would clash next to each but other than that anything goes.

Tammy

Cherry, we are in agreement about orange and lavender roses -- I don't like them either. OK, Westerland looks really nice (there's always an exception), and I like apricot roses, but orange roses, no.

I am not a fan of orange or lavender roses either. Or lavender ANYTHING really, except for actual lavender plants. I used to like light pink but find that in the south it tends to fade rather quickly so I try for stronger pinks. I have been planting quite a few white things of late, around the deck. It is nice when sitting outside in the late evening when it's dark, white flowers just "pop" in the landscape.

I guess the color I use the least is pink. Not sure why. It's funny, I like the peach shades like salmon and apricot, but I don't use them much either (too trendy? lol)I use blues a lot.

I'm not a big fan of gold at all, although it certainly can work in small amounts with dark burgundy and orange fall plantings. In the sunny front yard I don't use much yellow anyway, other than my Baby Gold goldenrod (which will hopefully be a green-tinted yellow-gold) and daffodils. But in the heat of the summer I want cool colors there.

And yet, in my mostly shady back yard I am thinking of using the yellow and orange flame type azaleas and Orange Hot Lava Flowering Maple (Abutilon) and I want a maple-leaf viburnum with yellow berries. Also a white-flowering Carolina silverbell tree is on my list for back there. We moved the Japanese maple back there recently, so that will be burgundy (bloodgood, is it called?). I'll just have to try to find enough sun back there, but it's the shade that makes me willing to look at warm colors back there. Weird, right?

I'm more of a "right color for the right time and place" person. My favorites are the cool colors, lavendars, blues, whites mixed in and bright purples. But I will use reds, golds and yellows mixed in or for annuals at the correct time of the year. I love any color of rose, never met one I didn't like! LOL I absolutly love the lavender to blue roses! Got one ordered and I'm anxiously awaiting it, and a really deep, deep red as well. They are going to need some buddies but I'm not sure what yet. My yard is basically sunny everywhere so I'm going to try to do groups of roses all over used with other plants instead of a dedicated rose garden. My winter pansey pots are all shades of lavendar and purple which really compliments my light grey house. I have planned for this year and my blank slate to create gardens where the colors all complement each other.

Nannerbelle, I couldn't agree with you more on colors. My favorite color combinations next to the house are white, cream, blue, violet, and purple. Or, to go to the other extreme, bright orange. The first year we had beds around the house I put Tithonia in on the south side and they really looked good there. A good clear yellow like Celandine poppy looks good with Phlox divaracta, and I couldn't do without my favorite yellows in the garden, Rudbeckia fulgida, Swamp sunflower, and the Bidens that bloom everywhere in September.

Laurabs, I didn't know there was a mapleleaf viburnum with yellow berries. That's interesting. I have some mapleleaf viburnum with the typical black berries, some from my FIL's yard (he has about an acre of it), and a couple purchased from the NCBG. One of my favorite shrubs for fall color, just lovely. I don't know what kind of azaleas you were thinking of getting -- below is a pic of Florida azaleas that were in front of the house before we moved it -- now they are elsewhere in the garden, as they were going to get too big. They are sweetly fragrant.

{{gwi:558783}}

Alicia, those are beautiful!! That is a plant I'm not familiar with, Florida Azalea. The ones I'm used to seeing are the common ones you find as a rule. And of course I've seen the Rhodendrim (sp) that is found in Western NC but doesn't like the hotter climate here. I'm going to have to look those up! :-) I've got a bed next to my drive that I could use some height to and the tropical look of those would fit in quite well with what I'm trying to create here. Very nice!!

At the risk of getting a whole bunch of 'boo-hiss's and thumbs downs from the gallery ..... my goal this year is to avoid droopy green and brittle brown. Any and every other color flower will be cherished! :o)

Apparently Florida azaleas are the same as flame azaleas.
I think they are the deciduous ones. Here is a link to images of flame azaleas.

http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=yellow+flame+azalea+

The active link should take you to the maple-leaf viburnum with yellow berries.

Here is a link that might be useful: VIBURNUM OPULUS XANTHOCARPUM

Thanks for the links folks!! Good info on the Florida Azaleas!! I like this one and it looks like it will fit in quite well with my plans. Zigzag, I'm with ya!! No boos or hisses here, just trying to get things going in my garden! :-) Let's say I'm an optimist with high hopes! :-)

Despite my gloom and doom personna, I'm a cockeyed optimist too! Am looking forward to this spring like never before and am pretty annoyed w/this drought thing.

But, it's raining as I type, so all is not lost - things just gotta get better! I should go to bed now, but don't want to leave the rain unattended (like it'll stop if I'm not watching ..!? )

Okay, so I'm a nutcase! :o)

Laurabs, there are actually two native azaleas that are sometimes referred to as 'flame azaleas'. One is the Florida flame azalea (Rhododendron austrinum) and the other is just called flame azalea (R. calendulaceum). They have a large colony of the first at Duke Gardens, which I've coveted for a long time, and that's where I started sorting through the names. Calendulaceum has larger flowers in a similar color range, but isn't as fragrant. In the end I got both of them.

http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/azaleas/calendulaceum.html

http://www.tjhsst.edu/~dhyatt/azaleas/austrinum.html

Karen I'm glad you posted. Flame azaleas are native to the mountains and are considered showier than Florida azaleas but are not fragrant. Florida azaleas are native to Georgia, Alabama and other areas south of here and are considered more heat tolerant than Flame azaleas. Both are deciduous. I have thoroughly enjoyed my Florida azaleas and quite frankly can't imagine anything showier. And the fragrance is very nice. Many times I saw deliveryman stop to smell them, and often in the spring we would open the windows to let the fragrance waft in. I haven't tried R. calendulaceum yet but would like to.

The mapleleaf viburnum I described is a different species than the one you want. It's a native species famous for its unique fall color.

Here is a link that may be useful: Viburnum acerifolium

It's funny because before I moved to NC, I never liked purple or blue flowers. I only wanted reds, oranges, yellows and pinks. Now, I have such a huge piece of property without much vegetation, that I'm taking any and all takers. Eventually, in like 15 years??, I'll be more organized about what goes where, but when you have soooooooooo much bare clay to fill up, you just cannot be too choosy.

Having said that, I now have liriope coming out my . . . I just keep dividing it and replanting it to line my driveway. I think this Spring, I'll have enough plants to finish the job. I am glad that I have the variagted one, because I am a huge fan of variagated leaves.

My motto for this year's gardening: "Divide and propogate"!