I'm am working on this same combo...am thinking about using the dark purple osteospurnam (South African Daisy). It has a little velveeta color in its eye to tie it all together. My only concern is whether these will bloom all season; have heard complaints that they fizzle out in strong heat. How about Geranium Rozanne?

How about 'May Night' Salvia? Blue flowers that the bees just adore. Very drought tolerant, and they don't mind the heat, either.

My hostas are halfway up, have the green/cream ones. Last year I had some sort of purple aster, it was gorgeous but only for about 2 weeks. My short purple was Wonderland Purple allysum, which I haven't seen yet in the stores. Great little filler, very short.

The May Night Salvia sounds good, may try that. I have some double purple hollyhocks I picked up at Walmart (6 bareroots in a bag).

Does anyone know of a true purple and yellow tulip? The ones I've seen on the internet sound more red or pink (Triumph Gavota and Atlantis, Weber's Parrot).

I also have hanging pots of blue Wave petunias and yellow dwarf snapdragons waiting to go out.

I have planted this combo in many of my designs and it really looks great. Stella with maiden pink dianthus, blue balloon flower. If you have the room, but it does'nt sound like it is possible, plant 'Black Knight' ButterflyBush nearby, with a deep red/pink Spiked Gayfeather!! This looks great together!! TJ

Don't give up on the Hosta yet. They are tough plants and generally late in coming up. I like the foliage and flower of Nepeta 'Walker's low' with Stella's and Dianthus 'zing rose' for a tough, long blooming combo.

Hi psnave, My African daisies, that looked like you described, bloomed all summer long here in CT.

I'm trying a few annuals in cooler shades of yellow and white (yellow snapdragons and yellow agyranthemum to follow "daffodil mix" clear color pansies) but as the Stellas haven't started blooming yet, I don't know how effective the combination will be.

I have red glads with mine and they look great.

I discovered I like anything with sky blue or light blue flowers. Right now I have campanula poscharskyana next to the stellas. I also like dark purple and have planted the Wave variety in this color next to another clump.

I've grown mine with Homestead Purple verbena. I love the purple/yellow combination and the Verbena can take the heat. Osteospermum is also gorgeous. Maybe you could do both? There's a paler purple Osteospermum that would look nice with the Verbena.

Well, if you are up for the challenge, my dark blue delphiniums look FABULOUS next to the orange Stella d'Oros, but I have no idea if I'll get those babies to bloom again next year (the delphiniums of course). The Homestead Purple verbena sounds like a good idea, and they are tough. Also, Stokesia 'Danube Blue' or 'Purple Parasol' are just starting to bloom now; my 'May Night' Salvias are fading just as these daylilies are beginning to bloom. And lastly, if you don't have a problem with extremely poisonous plants, monkshood will bloom nicely with the second flush of blooms.

I know it's late in the season, but since you may have the same question next year, I thought I would throw in my 2 cents about annuals. I love perennials, but I use annuals to fill in the holes as things mature and cycle through their bloom season. I grow Terra Cotta Yarrow and Apricot Profusion zinnas near my Stellas, because the colors are in the same family. Blue salvia is a nice contrast. I also have a large English daisy in the neighborhood. Melanmpodium might also look good around the skirts of the stellas - they stay low. The zinnias keep going all summer. And I keep some herbs and coleus in pots to move around and put in front of things that die back or have bad legs. The coleus are an instant color punch and the variety of colors means I can find something to go with everything. I do tend to like hot colors.