Nice combo. I think about structure first and color second, or maybe both equally first, after seeing Ballerina bloom with my orange daylilies. :(~

I always like pink with purple.

Rose Belinda's Dream with Gulf Coast Penstemon.
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Very pretty! I've wanted some spiderwort for years. I definitely need to move that up the list of wants.

I think about how much do I water it, first, then, how much do they cost; I want 25 and can only afford three; then how big does it get -really? Not what the tag says, then how often does it need dividing? And THEN, the big one, will DH, who is critically clueless, object to it?

OMG -- bumblebeez, you worry too much.

My mom gave me some spiderwort from her garden last year. I was excited to put it in the ground. The next day, it was gone!!! Eaten by the deer. Just an FYI

When I get them my only thought is "can I get this in the ground before my husband notices I bought a new plant". I have gotten some jarring combinations too. The only thing that really bothers me is peaches and fuschias. But then, my salmon colored rose got suckers coming up from it's rootstock that is bright magenta red and I should hate it, but I kinda like it. I figure nature doesn't care, so why should I? ( I do admit that people who think about it have lovely gardens, unlike my jungle)

I try to think about color most of the time but it's hard when you're a plopper like me. Ultimate size seems to be my biggest challenge other than just keeping them alive. I've been trying to work in daylilies to existing beds and color is a real issue there. At some point I'll probably have to give in and create hot and cold beds just for them.

Ais, mine is pretty much a jungle too. A friend who was being nice called it 'exuberant', which I think sounds better.

Exuberent is a great word!!

I'm so shallow- i buy based on color and form more than anything else! I guess it's the artsy side of me- but i am totally color and texture based for just about everything. I tend to color block in rainbow order, so i always have to think about where i can put said plant if it doesn't fit into the scheme or meet the right conditions. I have enough beds that i can usually find a place for things though. I don't tend to move things as they seed around or spread, so after a while it's a little hard to tell that originally that section was predominantly purple or blue or yellow. One of the more jarring combos nature played on me was a hot pink azalea and some other lilac pink bletillas close together, which looked ok, but throw in some red and yellow aquilegia canadensis that seeded in and it's eye popping, and not in a good way. I didn't like it until the iris cristata started blooming close by and in good numbers at the same time, and then suddenly it all worked. It's like i don't like pink and yellow together unless you mix in orange and maybe a bit of red and then suddenly it's alright (that 70's color scheme). I love serendipitous accidents like when the robbiana spurge came in with mulch- that yellowy green bloom just coordinates with all of the color combos so well that i let it seed around. Or the blue nigella, cornflower and larkspur in spring. The one thing that makes most of the unintentional combos work out ok is that they all tend to be very saturated and/or deep colors, which mix better than say pastel and saturated do together. Of course, some combos like that work great, but not always. I plant very few pastels except in spring flowers and even those are few & far between. I think most all pastels look fine with each other, too, and mixed with really dark hues- i just don't like pastels much myself. My daylilies are the one spot where i didn't plant by color and they are a mishmash. They look ok, though, i think.

BTW, spiderwort are easy and divide well (especially the old fashioned tall ones), so you may find some at a swap sometime. I did, and I love them.

I'm developing a fondness for orange and blue together. I'm working on it...not there yet.

Cameron

I like orange and purple together, a LOT. Although most of my garden is white/ cream/ blue/ purple/ pink with some yellow and blue thrown in.

I find that if stick with a certain palette, everything works together. I have cool shades and all values of red through purple to blue and lots of blue green foliage. No salmon or peach colored anything. Well, tiny bits, but nothing major.

No red orange either except in fall.

Mostly hot pinks, blues and purples. And lots of white.
Yellow appears more in summer through fall.

Cameron, I went through an orange and blue craze, too. Opposite colors on the color wheel can be stunning. It was a fun scavenger hunt to find the greatest of the orange and blues. What are you using?

Alicia, you should like my fair garden this year, then, because my predominent colors are going to be purple and orange, with and emphasis on the darks and lights of each hue. Should be fun.

Tammy, I saw both an orange and a purple diascia at the place that shall not be named. Gorgeous!

Tammy that does sound like a fun fair plot. What is the theme this year?

My favorite orange and purple combo is Tithonia with Mexican Bush Sage. The colors and the textures go really well together.

I bought some of the new orange (Sundown/Sunset, etc) coneflowers last year.

A few weeks ago, I bought some Tithonia from BB. When I was buying plants this Friday to take to the greyhound fund raiser yesterday, I decided to take a flat of tithonia (orange Mexican sunflowers -- 3ft, annuals) from the wholesale nursery. Since the plants aren't in bloom, they didn't sell. (Lesson learned when selling at non-gardening events).

So, I found myself planting 18 more tithonia today in my butterfly garden! I've put it with salvia n. caradonna, tall verbena, milkweed, blackeyed susans and nepeta in my butterfly garden. The Monarchs LOVE tithonia, and our garden is a certified Monarch Waystation. Needless to say, I will have a very BRIGHT butterfly garden!

Cameron

Thanks for the encouragement, ladies! Our theme this year is a romantic scented garden or some such statement, and it's in partial shade. We'll go heavy on the gingers, jasmine and brugs, as well as some others than can handle those conditions. I actually can reuse a good bit of my stuff from last year - the stuff that needs full sun we'll put in at the last minute. We have a fairly good idea of what we're going to do, but i'm loathe to post details - one never knows who could read it. :)

Unfortunately, tithonia wouldn't get big enough in a pot to use and it's just not sunny enough in that area to plant it. I will try to get some going at home for us though, since it's been a few years since i planted it. I love those incandescent blooms! I like s. leucanthoe too, but can't seem to get it to overwinter for me and i'm getting tired of replacing it (3 times now). Any tips?

Amy, thanks for the heads up. Diascia would be great but i don't know if i could nurse it through the summer heat til then. Do you think they'd have it come fall?

Tammy, the ones there are some that have been there since last spring. I don't know that folks know what to do with them, and they have been there awhile. Maybe I could "foster" some for you 'til you need them, and if they don't work in your vision, then I could adopt them permanently!

Sounds good to me, Amy! Thanks! If they can do part shade and make it through the heat again, i'm sure i'll be able to use them. Not sure when i'll get down. I'll email you and or adele a little before i do to get some more ideas, too. :)

Tammy, sounds like a party! Just let us know...

*grin* will do!

I love Purple and Orange together! I have a potted Vavoom Rose surrounded by Ruellia. So far just a single Ruellia bloom and nothing yet from the rose, which was bare root this spring.

I've planted Lightening Strike Toad Lily around a Gibralter Azalea. They won't bloom at the same time, but the variegation from the Toad Lily should go nicely with the orange flowers of the Azalea!

I've also got a Hot Cocoa Rose next to some mini apricot roses. I think the colors play nicely together! Then there is my notorious pink peony - which is right in the middle of these roses. I thought I had gotten rid of it at a swap last year, but it must've come back from roots that I missed! I am not a fan of pink flowers.

I'm another fan of the purple/blue-orange combo.

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Gorgeous, shari!!

OOOO! Shari, I LOVE that combo...give us the plant details, please?

Cameron

Ok, here's a new favorite: chartreuse Nicotiana langsdorfii with deep purple and blue larkspur! Maybe one of these days I will get to posting pictures, but 'til then, you will just have to trust me on this one. Shari, love that combo. Which daylily is that? What a cutie!

I was tickled when that DL- 'Trial by Fire'- started blooming. It was fall planted so I couldn't know exactly when to expect bloom. That's Salvia transylvanica in the picture but behind that is orange asclepias and Salvia Indigo Spires. I wanted to be sure to catch an orange/purple combo one way or the other. S. transylvanica was grown from Burpee seed purchased at Walmart a few years back and it reseeds for me. I think the individual plants are fairly short lived.

Well, it's wonderful combo! I'm not familiar with s. transylvanica. Thanks for the plant names.

Cameron

I've come to the conclusion that the color green is the key. Something about green and all the greens out there make colors that wouldn't work well in a painting or on fabric come together naturally. Its like the neutral territory between waring colors.

Another surprising combo is to use the silver/white of Dusty Miller type plants with dark green leaved or even purple leaved plants and some dark red or purple/red blooms. Silver leaves work well with just about anything - I've even seen it used with things like yellow and orange - but something about it with dark greens and a few dark rich red flowers really works.

I agree that you can do almost anything with the flower colors if the foliage works. I plant mainly with foliage color and texture in mind and don't really sweat the rest. I'll qualify that by saying I actually enjoy the occasional 'off' note. It adds interest, like dissonance and resolution in music.

Agreed on the silver/white and dark red or purple. Heart Attack dianthus with variegated ribbon grass and palace purple coral bells with lambs ears are two that work. I am trying Felix catmint with salvia Purple Volcano this year but it is too soon to say how that will look. I have put a sweet potato blackie with red wave petunias and white verbena in window boxes and hope it will work.

The surprise this spring was the huge yellow and orange knifophia (sp?) that bloomed beside tall purple iris. I got it from the first High Point swap and thought it was a day lily. This is the first time it bloomed and it was striking.

Well, I'm a bit late to the party here ... as usual ... but the spiderwort (what an ugly name for a pretty plant) mentions got my attention.

I have spiderwort - started with but one small plant that has been used, abused, divided, ignored, drowned, parched, stuck in full sun, stuck in full shade, overrun by vinca groundcover, monkeyed with by a novice gardener .... and just keeps on ticking! Oh, and currently that one original plant now numbers four hearty plants that just keep getting bigger.

Blooms are a vibrant, medium purple and a few folks who know much more than I have commented on the (?) unique color. It's of the taller variety - needs staking and I get better at doing so each year. Come July I'll hack it down and it'll come back rapidly and bloom again until frost.

I really should bring some to a swap - have never been to one, may or may not get there soon. Meanwhile, if anybody wants some, email me and we can figure out the transfer. It really is a gem - a true passalong plant.

Iris virginica and Shirley poppies
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