Comments on: Bloom Day challenge

By: Digital Flower

Digital Flower — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:13:08 +0000

I think when your a professional it is easy to fall into a bit of a rut with regards to what works. I am always trying to hedge my bets with somethings I know will work and trying a few new things. Our garden at home is more mixed up and less conservative and mostly works out. My advice would be go ahead and mix it up a little, I doubt you will be disappointed.

D.F., I think I would be reluctant to try anything too crazy for a client unless I was given totally free reign for weirdness. And I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’ll do at least a little mixing up! Whether or not we’ll like using colors we don’t like is the question… -kris

By: Mr. McGregor's Daughter

Mr. McGregor's Daughter — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:33:36 +0000

I despise orange & all its tints and shades! However, I could easily steal a gorgeous planting I saw at a nursery last year: peachy orange Tree Peony blooms with dark purple Iris. It looked wonderful. But I don’t have to plant that to have orange in my garden. I was looking through my photos from October and noticed what a magnificent shade of orange the leaves of my crabapple turn!
BTW – Liatris looks great with the pink of Echinaceas.

MMD, See, I think orange is the color that makes all other colors work somehow – that tree peony and iris combo would be right up my alley. The trick for me will be to not rely on orange as my personal crutch. (Finding it hard to imagine NOT liking orange – but to each her own!) And I can imagine the liatris with a hottish pink… Plus that contrast in textures might be interesting. -kris

By: Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Carol, May Dreams Gardens — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:06:29 +0000

I’m not much help, I’m afraid when it comes to combining plants… I have to look at pictures and try to copy them. I do try to avoid red flowers in my garden…

Carol, Coming up with combinations is tough, no doubt about it. Last year Gail and I looked at pictures of bouquets and floral arrangements to find some ideas. And who was it (one of the grand dames of English gardens…) who said that every garden needs just a touch of red to draw the eye? -kris

By: Layanee

Layanee — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:08:32 +0000

Kris: I love purple but the color of liatris makes me cringe although I like it in the Franz Schubert garden phlox. Go figure! Maybe it is the scent of the phlox which makes the difference but I think it is, ultimately, the texture. Soft yellows such as Achillea' Moonshine' mixed with the purple of Campanula persicifolia is really lovely. The harsh yellows require more blue don't you think? Glad I missed the flood! Layanee, Texture is definitely one of those other all important design elements. Liatris has a very tricky texture as well as a difficult color... And I might like the achillea/campanula combo if the yellow was more on the green side and the purple really on the blue side... -kris

By: Chookie

Chookie — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:57:50 +0000

Mmmm, tricky. I"m hesitant to include a lot of hot reds, oranges and yellows because the flowers tend to appear in summer, when it's hot enough already. I would be happy with hot-coloured flowers in winter! A little bit of red would be all right... maybe a Sturt's Desert Pea, which is a real challenge to grow in Sydney! Wow, I've never seen your Sturt's Desert Pea before! And I can understand your reluctance to grow the hot colors in the hot season - but maybe it would really cool you off like drinking hot tea on a hot day... -kris