1) A black iron arbor set against our tan stucco house. Arbor is covered with an evergreen, continuous-blooming white-flowering potato vine (solanum). Inside the arbor is a dark-leafed, bright red canna lily clump. At its feet is helichrysum 'Limelight' exuberantly tendriling up into the potato vine, while Japanese golden grass Hakonechloa macra bundles up on the other side of the cannas. It's a great contrast of colors and shapes both of foliage and flowers.

2) Looking upwards alongside the south fence on our property, a group of plants ended up being the perfect staggering of height to set each other off:
--a white flowering oleander standard, the tallest at 7'
--a dark red flowered abutilon 'Niobe' at 6' tall
--a silvery-green leafed Plectranthus argentatus for foliage interest at 5' tall
--spikes of Lobelia cardinalis were 4' tall
--masses of yellow-flowered Lysimachia punctata were 3' tall
--pink-flowering Polygonum capitatum as the groundcover
I couldn't have planned the height staggering better if I'd tried! But I really had no idea, it was completely serendipity.

This summer I have a red,yellow and orange grouping with lantana,black-eyed Susan vine,yellow and red mums,rudbeckia,orange cosmos,yellow and orange daylilies. There were yellow pansies in there earlier and the yellow and red cannas haven't bloomed but it looks nice to me!

1. Gold-colored hardy mums
2. Aster novae-angliae 'Purple Dome' (which was cut back by a third in spring and early summer)
3. Sedum 'Matrona'

Wendy

1. Red Japanese maple, pieris japonica, astilbe "Sister Theresa" & dwarf mondo grass
2. Japanese painted fern and selaginella in front of "Chocolate" eupatorium

Today, it's an area with a medium-pink yarrow (Achillea,) purple canterburn bells (Campanula medium,) Clematis 'Ramona', and deep pink butterfly weed (Asclepias incarnata.)