I haven't had a chance to figure out photobucket and photo-posting yet, but here's some of my favourite combinations:

Iris sibirica (blue variety), Paeonia (red), Paeonia (light pink)

Geranium 'Brookside' (or 'Orion'), Iris sibirica 'Butter & Sugar', and Rodgersia

Echinacea (any red-purple one) in front of Miscanthus 'Variegatus'

Heuchera 'Plum Pudding' in front of Salvia 'Purple Rain'

Phlox 'Emerald Cushion Blue', Aubrieta (purple), and Iberis 'Purity'

Stachys byzantina, Salvia 'May Night', and Geranium 'Orion'

Aruncus aethusifolius and Campanula 'Sarastro'

Just to name a few...

coolplantsguy, i don't know how to post pix either (she says sheepishly :) )

I love your combinations. some of my favs:

* hebe 'great orme' with clematis 'Perle d'Azur' or 'prince charles'

* Phlox paniculata 'Red Riding Hood' paired with helenium 'moorheim beauty'

* verbascum 'aarons rod' (or any yellow verbascum) paired with allysum basket of gold

and then my standard favs (you pick color combos) --

* iceland poppies and pansies
* irises and peonies

I tend to do large swaths of plants so that the colors really pop.

A late season show involves Sedum 'Autumn Joy', the striped grass Miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan', a white Buddleia and Lespedeza 'Spring Grove'--long lasting and stunning.

An even later show includes Persicaria 'Crimson Beauty', Sedum 'Autumn Joy', Miscanthus gracillimus, Perovskia. When it's backlit by the September sun, it takes your breath away.

I love the combination of purple and yellow. Right now I have purple Phlox, bluish purple Pincushion, purple Ranunculus with yellow Snapdragons, and orangy yellow Coreopsis and Erysimum.

In another bed I have: purple pansies with Marigold.

I am waiting for others to come up. Purples: Liatrus, purple Zinnia, Purple Coneflower, purple Dutch Iris and some others. Yellows: Rudbeckia, Coreopsis, giant Marigold.

I also have some blues in that bed. I like blue and orange together. I have: Bachelor Buttons "Blue Boy", Texas Bluebonnet, Larkspur.

Your bloom color combinations are some of my favorates as well. They are dependent on the plants blooming together and most of the combination mentioned do. I have been for the last few years concentrating of foliage colors as they last for a long season and their color is dependable. Every year I find better selections of foliage textures and colors, so I think this must be a trend. Al

I'm more of a foliage fanatic than flower combiner, it's the foliage combinations that really make the garden interesting to my eye. Regarding flowers, though, I like to keep the flower colors within the same range - in the back of the house I go for soft cool pinks, blues/purples (both dark and light), and white. I like it quiet and relaxing back there.

laceyvail and chihuahua6 -- i like your combos too.

al and mxk3 -- tell us about some of your texture combos :-) -- or post pix.

joyce

Here's a color combo that I really like:

{{gwi:201039}}

Yarrow 'Moonshine', Lavender and Lychnis coronaria.

You all really should figure out how to post pictures. It's much easier to grasp color combinations from pictures rather than trying to visualize it them from words. I use Flickr which includes a handy box full of HTML code that you can simply cut and paste into your GardenWeb message.

Good thread! Let's see some more pictures! :)

That's a beauty steve. OK -- I will figure out the pic-posting challenge this evening!

Nepeta and blue Dutch Iris
Nepeta and gaillardia
Monarda 'raspberry wine' with coneflowers
Salvia 'dark dancer' with crape myrtle 'white chocolate' and pink muhly grass
'Ruby Star' coneflowers with spirea 'Neon Flash'
Salvia 'Black & Blue' with Lantana 'Chapel Hill'

Cameron
my gardening blog has lots of photos

This is one of my favorite combinations. This is 'PLum Pudding' Heucherra and creeping Jenny
{{gwi:201040}}

forensicmom -- ooooo, yum, yum! i'm adding creeping jenny to my garden this year!

joyce

check out this combo (nice mix of textures):

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:201032}}

Forensic mom -- I have the same combo of purple heuchera with creeping jenny! My heuchera is 'palace purple' but works well.

In the fall, I really liked my salvia greggii 'Dark Dancer' with pink muhly grass:
{{gwi:201041}}From Defining Your Home Garden

While the 'daytime' effect wasn't as stunning (but was pretty, nonetheless), one evening at sundown I went out and caught my Indian Summer Rudbeckia in an intimate encounter with my Chocolate Joe Pye Weed (then only 2 seasons old), and it simply GLOWED together. Joe had a beautiful burgundy/brown coat that 2nd season, and the ruds just swooned over him.

Course, then the JP started to take off to his not-so-dwarf height, swapped his brown coat for a greener one :( and I had to move him the following year...so this wasn't a permanent companion planting. But it was gorgeous while it lasted.

OK, hopefully this works (pics from Flickr)...

{{gwi:201042}}

It works! So here's the rest that I referred to near the beginning of this thread:

{{gwi:201044}}

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cool plants guy,

i just can't pick a fav of all your combos. they are all stunning. what's the white plant in the bottom pix???

yummy! thanx,

joyce

I kind of hate to post right behind Coolplantsguy, since his pictures are so awesome, but here are a few of my favorites.

Blue Oat Grass with Achillea 'Terra Cotta'
{{gwi:201049}}

Asclepias tuberosa with Geum 'Fireball'
{{gwi:201051}}

Agastache 'Apache Sunset' with Echinacea 'Summer Sky'
{{gwi:201053}}

... and Gaillardia 'Burgundy' with Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush'

{{gwi:201055}}

Bonnie

joyce, thanks! The white flower is Aruncus aethusifolius or Dwarf Korean Goatsbeard.

Here's a couple more with Stokesia, one combined with an Artemisia and the other with Cryptotaenia japonica 'Atropurpurea'...

{{gwi:201056}}

{{gwi:201057}}

highalttransplant, I like your combos very much. Especially the Blue Oat Grass with the Achillea. I'm going to try that one in my garden.

Cool plants guy, Stokesia is a vole magnet in my garden :( nice pix.

j.

Cool Plants Guy, those combos are stunning--especially the phlox and iberis--thanks for the ideas!

Cool plants guy - great combos, great photos. I have some of those combos myself.

Highalttransplant - I really like the combos of same colors, different flower forms - like your geum and asclepias, and agastache and echinacea. I appreciate that they are the exact same hue, which is much harder to accomplish than most people realize.

Iris Persian Berry with Allium Giganteum and Lupine
{{gwi:201058}}From Iris 2008

Peonies and rose campion
{{gwi:201059}}From Spring - Iris, Lupine, Peonies

Tiger lilies, rudbeckia, outhouse plant
{{gwi:201061}}From Barn Bed 2008 Oranges and Golds 2

Geranium Max Frei, veronica incana, penstemon
{{gwi:201062}}From Side Garden 2007

gottagarden -- nice combos!

I love the silver foliage of the Rose Campion and the flowers echoing with the Peonies.

Also the very hot-coloured Rudbeckia and Tiger Liles.

BTW, what is an "outhouse plant"?

gottagarden, i always love your plant combos. my particular fav from the pix posted is the Allium Giganteum and Lupine and the iris. i think i'll add lupines to my beds of lavender and alliums. did you grow the lupines from seeds? if so, when did you plant them?

great new combo suggestions from all. you've certainly given me some great ideas for combos in my gardens.

thanx too to everyone who posted pix. it's sooooooo much easier to visualize things when you can actually see them :D

happy gardening to one and all!

Outhouse plant is Rudbeckia laciniata ÂHortensiaÂ, grows rapidly, keep an eye on it. Mine gets about 6 feet tall and is tough as nails.

I got my lupine as tiny little seedlings in a six pack from a fellow gardener who pulled them out of her garden in spring. Mine now self seed, but not aggressively, and the seedlings show up in mid spring.

Gottagarden--Love that veronica incana--I wonder why it isn't more popular, compared to the other veronicas? Is it a short bloom-time plant? It doesn't seem that any nursery carries it (ForestFarm has the rose version, but that purpley-blue is gorgeous).

I have never seen veronica incana for sale anywhere. I got mine from another gardener in the garden club. Everyone loves it, even out of bloom and I must have given it to at least 30 people and donate it to plant sales, etc. It actually blooms longer than my other veronicas, and the foliage is so nice and tidy it makes a great silver edger. The foliage is evergreen, even in my harsh zone 5 winters. Truly don't know why this isn't more popular.

I used to grow V. incana (sometimes also listed as a subspecies of V. spicata) years ago.

It should be available from some of the better seed companies.

These are all so beautiful and inspiring (Gottagarden, you know what I mean by Garden Inspiration!) :-)

Clematis, lavender and Knock Out Roses: {{gwi:201063}}From Defining Your Home Garden

wonbyherwits, really pretty combo.

everyone looking for veronica incana -- high country gardens has it (see link below)

Here is a link that might be useful: veronica incana

jxa44--Thanks! Though it says, "not available at this time". Oh well, I'll check them next year. Bluestone Perennials is also out of v. incana.

Thank you, Gottagarden! I have to admit, I was expecting a red combo in one of your pictures. Do you still have your famous red bed?

Bonnie

This is an easy one that looks great. I see it on a side street I take sometimes, so I haven't stopped for a picture. Maybe this year.

Echinacea--Magnus, or even the old reliable
Shasta Daisy Becky
A small hosta with green and yellow-green leaves and short stalks of closely spaced, darker-than-usual, lavender/purple flowers.

The bloom times mesh nicely and all the plants are very easy care. I am working on getting a stand of this going in my yard. The spot I tried is too overrun with maple roots (outside the drip line but thick with those roots nonetheless) so nothing but the daisies really succeeded there. Hard to believe, but the hostas are sulking in that spot.

For a few years, I had a nice grouping of orange oriental poppies, Alaska daisies, and purple dutch iris. They all petered out, but one day I may try that again.

Steve, I love your yarrow, russian sage and lychnis. I have all of those, I should just get them more chummy so I can enjoy that beautiful look.

Everyone's photos are so inspiring. Much better than looking at the plant catalogs.

Hepatica

My shade bed is about 80 percent up right now and after a major re-do last fall, I am feeling really smug. One of the prettiest combos in it is Japanese Painted Fern (silver and purple fronds) with Purple Oxalis and Spanish bluebells. June Hosta is right behind it with it blue green and yellow green variegation. It really is a lovely scene. (Oh, how I want to figure out how to post photos!)

Ok, this thread got me inspired to look through some older garden pictures and I found another one I'd like to share. This one is of my front garden in mid June. I planned this perennial bed to have a hot color scheme featuring mainly gold, red and orange. The feature plants are lilies, yarrow 'Moonshine' and Coreopsis verticillata along with ornamental grasses for height and texture and lavendar for a touch of purple.

{{gwi:201064}}

Steve - Beautiful photo! I love the contrast that the ornamental grasses add. Thanks for sharing. Gorgeous!

Wow, Steve, you did a great job, that's a beautiful bed!
Are those grasses Miscanthus 'Variegatus' and 'Morning Light'?

gottagarden and coolplantsguy, I love your combinations as well!

>> Are those grasses Miscanthus 'Variegatus' and
>> 'Morning Light'?

Ha! You guess them exactly right! :) There's also two generic Miscanthus senensis clumps in the upper left corner and upper right. It's going to look a bit different this year because I ripped out the two Coreopsis verticillata clumps (they were too invasive) and replaced them with a dwarf Solidago and some Stars of Persia.

I've grown really annoyed lately with perennials that keep elbowing there way into neighboring plants so this spring I've been ripping out Coreopsis verticillata, lambs ears and striped ribbon grass. Enough is enough! ;( I've pulled out some of my creeping phlox too, but I'm not willing to part with it altogether. :)

This isn't really a stunner, but I love the subtle echoes of pink and purple in the little bluestem grass and the variegated sedum flowers.

{{gwi:201065}}

a house in the country near me has their property lined with russian sage and tall bright orange daylilies. neither of them are that exciting to me alone. but togethor they look awesome. you can see the blue/orange combo at least 1/2 mile away-- i look forward to it every summer!