Sprout..yesterday I found a very neat book in our public library and I am engrossed in it. It is called Choosing plant combinations by Better Homes and Gardens 501 beautiful ways to mix and match color and form in the garden. The call# on this is 712.6 BAR I don't know if those numbers would be the same in every public library or not. I see it's original price was $29.95 which is a steal for a nice book like this. Will check Amazon.com and see what they sell it for, as it looks like one that I'd love to own. The color pages and information is wonderful.. it lists the names of each flower combination but also offers alternatives..in the back is a complete index of flowers used in each color picture by page #. You might like to see if your library owns this book in their system. If not, maybe check your local book store and look at it there. I've done that before when I wanted to see if it really was one I wanted to own, then bought it from Amazon.com for a lot cheaper than anywhere else. I usually have any orders from them in 3 days at my front door and the shipping costs are nominal.

Soft blue would keep the arrangement pastel which may be what you are going for. I like a punch in the garden and would add something to set them off. How about a foliage plant with deep burgundy leaves like one of the Heuchera/coral bells? That mounting form might look nice under the spikes of the salvia and the coarser texture with the echinacea. That way you wouldn't have to try to get the blooms exactly synched either.

They both sound lovely.

I have a book on color I've had for decades by Mary Keene called Gardening with Color. It was very inspirational to me when I was planning my borders long ago. I have let go of a lot of that early design and fallen more into what works what but I get a lot of joy out of pretty color and form combinations that really work with each other.

Let us know what you decide.

Do you have a specific color scheme in mind? Bold or pastel(cool)?

The best laid plans: I decided my new flower bed would be in white, blue and yellow. It's next to my newly built glass house and those are the colors on the inside. So off I go to pick out some of my favs in those colors. But oh, that plant is cool! But wait, it's pink. Don't buy that one. Oh look, one of the new cone flowers. Love the hot new colors that comes in. But wait, not in my color palette. Oooh a butterfly weed that I've been looking for for a long time! Darn, it's orange of course.

Change of plans: the bed will be MOSTLY blue, white and yellow with a few punches of other colors.

I need to get a spine :)

I think a lavender shade would go nicely with both the green and mauve. Perhaps a perennial geranium (like G. cinereum 'Ballerina') would fit the bill?

Delphinium never live very long for me...but if I had one I would maybe plant Salvia pratensis 'Pink Delight' with it. Pastel colors around it do sound nice ;-)
CMK

Thanks everybody - The delph is more of a lavender, the salvia is called "Rose Wine".

I am in the process of converting my small front lawn to a full cottage garden. I have all of the usual cottage plants - peony, iris, delph, echinacea, rose, etc. but rather than just start adding more plants, I would like to do as the author says in the book recommended by pippi21: "pleasing gardens are built combination by combination. You don't need an overall scheme, but rather dozens of workable combos of two or three plants that, seen as a whole, make up a garden." And that's what I want to do - take these cottage garden favorites and put them in an attractive grouping. (pippi21 - I found the book on Amazon - used - for 81 CENTS!!)

LOL rafor - I know JUST what you mean!!

My plant/flower colors are mostly whites, pinks and some blues, with a little yellow, but I would like to add a little more color while still keeping it cohesive. Thanks everybody. Let me know if you have any other ideas or have things that are working well for you.
-Sprout

How about Cerinthe major var purpurascens -- I find it takes on colors of plants around it and is a wonderful companion with yellows, blues, purples, etc. The leaves have a glaucus tone as well.

It would not be hardy in your area, but self-seeds nicely.

Sheri

Here is a link that might be useful: Here are some pictures

eightzoner- I had forgotten about Cerinthe major. I ordered seeds, but I imagine it is too late to start them (?) Do you think I still have time for them to bloom and set seed? Thanks-
-Sprout

Mmm. Not sure, but it's worth a try. It blooms for me from early Spring through the end of summer.

I thought I killed the one I first planted in late spring from a nursery, but it resprouted a few weeks later and I know I got some bloom that first year (albeit late and meagre). I found out later it often suffers transplant shock, so seeds are the way to go, IMO.

Give it a try!