Friday, October 5, 2012

Color Themes

I seem to have a talent for planting perennials and annuals next to each other, and finding out when they bloom that they are all the same color shade! I prefer complementary plantings in warm and cool shades, so I usually dig up matching bloomers and spread them around the garden.

Since I live in the high desert with summer temperatures in the 100 degrees, I tend to favor cool palettes in both the shade and sunny borders.


 Above, a lovely combination of spiky lavenders and darker salvia.


Three all-stars from the mint family - white perennial salvia Snow Hill, mauve-pink Teucrium Chamaedrys, known as the herb Germander, and blue nepeta, the Walker's Low catmint. These make an unbeatable combination because of similar trouble-free plant habits, and because all three plants bloom the entire summer and into the fall.


Tissue-paper cups of the prairie mallow Party Girl, here complemented by the darker pink shades of Rocky Mountain winecups. 



Full-sun mid-summer plants in subtle shades, including a pink echinacea and the species licorice mint Agastache Rupestris.


A nice combination in the mid-summer border, including Husker Red penstemon with its frilly white icing flowers on a sturdy red-leaved plant; the blue Rozanne geranium, Cinco de Mayo single roses, and a tall red lily.


Warm-colored roses in the sunny border. White always makes a good transition between color schemes.

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