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A Great Combination

May 21st, 2009

Sometimes when you plant things together they don’t look quite as good as you’d hoped so you have to move a few plants. Then there are those times when things to just look great together on accident.
pink-peony
I planted this peony 4 years ago and this is the first time it’s bloomed. I couldn’t even remember what color it was 2 years ago when I planted this sage, but what a great combo they are!
east-friesling-hybrid-sage-and-peony
Most of the flowers in my gardens are purple and pink, I think they compliment each other well. I happen to really love white flowers as well and have a few of them sprinkled around the gardens. I like to keep things simple with just a few colors.

What’s your favorite color combo in the garden?

15 Comments to “A Great Combination”
  1. KitsapFG on May 21, 2009 at 9:30 am

    That is a stunning combo.

    I seem to migrate to predominantly dark purples, red, and yellow combos. The yellow makes the purple and red just “pop” out and appear more intense.

    The truth is though that my flower and ornamental beds are more a function of what is going to grow well in that particular spot and in our climate – than any grand color scheme or layout. It seems to work though.

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  2. Daphne on May 21, 2009 at 10:43 am

    I’m not much of a flower planner. I ought to, but truth be told when there is a vacant spot in the flower garden I plant it with whatever whim I currently have. This has nothing at all to do with their neighbors. This means I have bright gold black eyed susans next to pink coreposis. It is a terrible combination. And sadly I only have one fall blooming plant so that season is a bit dull. This year I added bee balm that I grew from seed (latest whim is to try to attract hummingbirds and butterflies into the garden) and I don’t even know what color they will be yet. I’m hoping bright red. I suppose I should have bought seed for bright red flowers, but again the lack of forethought does me in.

    Daphne’s last blog post.. Getting the Garden Ready for the Heat

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    • Susy on May 21, 2009 at 11:57 pm

      Most of my combination are happy mistakes. When I first started I wanted an all white garden, so I bought all white plants. But then they all turned out to be purple, so I ended up with an all purple garden, I’ve been adding a few things in here and there as I can find them cheaply.

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  3. s on May 21, 2009 at 11:04 am

    Very nice! I tend to plant and rearrange pretty impulsively and sometimes get good combos by accident. This year its a cheddar-colored globeflower next to some deep, deep purple dwarf iris.

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  4. Faith on May 21, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Very pretty!

    Ugh, reminds me, I’ve STILL got to plant my cosmos and baby’s breath cutting garden. When am I going to remember to do that???

    ~Faith

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  5. The Kitchenette on May 21, 2009 at 2:43 pm

    I seem to be drawn to all shades of blue and purple flowers. I also love the idea of all white flowers. I don’t have a garden right now, as I’m living in an apartment building. I’m already picking out varieties, though, in anticipation of moving out soon!

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    • Susy on May 21, 2009 at 11:58 pm

      I love white flowers as well, and green ones. I really want to have an all white garden, but I’m more into growing veggies at the moment.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  6. Claire on May 21, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    That Peony is stunning – well worth a four year wait!
    My garden is predominently hot pink, strong purples and reds – very loud! I am contemplating adding some orange too!
    Claire

    Claire’s last blog post.. Easter

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  7. Helen at Toronto Gardens on May 21, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    The pink and purple in your photo are beautiful, especially as they also contrast in flower form: the round peony with the spiky salvia. I tend to favour that side of the spectrum, too: pinks, blues, purples. Soon, I’ll have violet coloured hesperis blooming with the steely blue-purple Allium christophii, pink and purple clematis and pale pink Rosa ‘New Dawn’ and (we’ll see, it’s languishing) coral pink Rosa ‘William Morris’.

    Because my garden’s small, I also focus on foliage colour, so that the interest continues after blooming is over. One of my favourite successes is a central striped Hosta ‘Striptease’ beside the variegated edged leaves of Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’. The daphne is perfuming the garden now. But even after the flowers fade, the two make a striking contrast side by side.

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    • Susy on May 21, 2009 at 11:59 pm

      I also love the plant form as well in this combination. I’m a big fan of variegated and foliage plants.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  8. Dan on May 21, 2009 at 10:05 pm

    I don’t usually plan combination but I do make sure to plant for various heights in the garden. Your peony is stunning, The single flowered ones are my favorite.

    Dan’s last blog post.. Thurdays Garden Meal

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    • Susy on May 21, 2009 at 11:59 pm

      I actually didn’t know it was going to be a single one, it’s been so long since I planted I had no idea what it was any more. I really do need to write these things down, or label my plants better.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  9. The Stylish Gardening Blog on May 22, 2009 at 4:08 am

    I love whites and pinks together. Such a lovely, naive looking combination. Cosmos ‘Sensation’ does this for you, but I also like to interplant white and hot pink cistus together for a polka dot effect…

    We have a hideous gold variegated euonymus in our garden. To dilute the horrible yellow, I have grown three varieties of clematis through it, all in varying shades of purple, from port-wine to violet. The complimentary colours should look stunning when the climbers come into flower…

    The Stylish Gardening Blog’s last blog post.. Unusually coloured veg

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  10. Mangochild on May 22, 2009 at 5:15 am

    Beautiful. I like pairing shades of colors – different shades of green next to each other and shades of yellows are a good way for me to look at the world and see that even the “same” color has so many subtle variations.
    Its true, one never knows what will come of experiments. Not in the flower area, but I remember cooking eggplant with a kind of bean/veg often grown in India (I don’t know the English name) and my family were dumbfounded – that combination just didn’t go together traditionally – the veg was always eaten on their own. But I figured we pair green beans and eggplant, so why not? They tried it, and while my father was still a bit too taken aback, my mother loved it and found it solved the problem of the beans often getting too dry due to the moisture of the eggplant. So experimentation yields great combos!

    Mangochild’s last blog post.. Local Volunteering: Bread sorting at the Foodshare warehouse

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  11. Jen on May 22, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    It changes from year to year, but this year I’m into purple and orange together. I love this pink and purple matchup too. My peonies also took a long time to get established. And now I want to move them because they’re too tall. I’m never truly happy ;-)

    Jen’s last blog post.. Have You Praised Your Peonies Today?

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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