Here's another angle... with another bad, evil dog lol

That's a pretty bed. You might add Stokesia laevis/Stokes aster for more blue/purple. Nepeta/catmint also blooms from spring to fall altho' the flowers are small. Coreopsis 'Zagreb' has been the best/most reliable yellow-blooming performer in my garden since I planted it 5+ years ago altho' Rudbeckia hirta/black-eyed Susans have put on a good show as well. Agastache foeniculum/anise hyssop grows taller than I like but it seems to come back every year. The tiny yellow flowers on Alchemilla mollis/Lady's mantle are insignificant on their own but they bloom for rather a long time in what I'd call appealing clusters.

My favorite spring/early summer bloomer is Baptisia australis/false indigo simply because it's totally care/maintenance-free and the foliage dies back in fall on its own without requiring any help from me. Caryopteris/blue mist shrub is another that requires no more than a haircut in spring.

Polychroma spurge euphorbia/cushion spurge is another low/no-maintenance, early-season bloomer that produces yellow "bracts." Lobelia siphilitica/great blue lobelia blooms later in the season, while Phlox divaricata/woodland phlox is a low-growing early-season phlox that produces an abundance of blue flowers.

I also have Pulmonaria/lungwort growing in half-day sun that produces blue flowers early in the season.

You could try Caryopteris 'Sunshine Blue' which in sun has gold foliage and blue-purple autumn flowers.

Globeflower if you want some early season yellow. There is a lighter yellow daylily called Stella Supreme. There are yellow rudbeckias too.

Salvia "May Night", lupins and delphiniums are some ideas for purple.

For spring color, how about some big King Alfred daffs and some grape hyacinths?

There are some pretty cool purple as well as nice yellow daylilies (nicer yellow than the Stellas, IMHO). Purple phlox... how much sun does this area get?

That dog is sitting there looking awfully innocent, lol....

Dee

Nice bed and pooch! I love the idea of the rudbeckia hirta and would go with 'Prairie Sun' it is a tall and pure yellow which I think would be stunning against your deck railing.

Love the bed David, nice work! I agree that it looks really nice without the protective edging.

My favorite yellow daylily is 'Hyperion' which is an old standby which has yet to be improved upon, IMHO. It's pure yellow with a hint of a green throat, makes a large clump, and throws tons of stout, bud-laden scapes.

Other suggestions for the purple category are Russian sage or Siberian iris. I could envision a nice big clump of ornamental grass fitting in well in your bed too.

This post was edited by karin_mt on Mon, Jul 8, 13 at 22:03

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate all the input.

gardenweed - thank you for that extensive list of suggestions! I have a lot of researching to do! To the very far right of the picture, under my cheesey purple-spray-painted container, is a nepeta walkers low and love it. I think I might move a heliopsis clump over there... we'll see. I've been thinking about an agastache and lady's mantle. I have a cushion spurge in front and absolutely love it. Definitely have lots of things to look into!

Barb - I love the look of that Caryopteris. Yours is beautiful!

Donna - I have sooo many May Night Salvias... would you believe I never thought of them!? Ha! I could easily use some here. I absolutely love them (and meadow sage)

Dee - I have plenty of both daffs and grape hyacinth bulbs (not sure on the specific daffodil name) The only problem with the GHs is that the baby (the one on the deck) likes to dig up the bulbs... Hardly ever does any bad digging or plant eating but he had a FIELD DAY digging them up last fall. He actually dug them all up, I just collected them. This spot gets about 6 hours of sun but sometimes trees and the deck create shady spots. I'm hoping to move the phlox I have away from the deck so it gets more sun. I also didn't pinch them back as I should have (I guess?) so I'm hoping they wont need to be strapped up next year. I'm sure the massive amounts of rain we've been getting doesn't help, either.

SouthCountryGuy - I like the rudbeckia prairie sun! I've never seen that one before - very nice!

Karin - I agree with the ornamental grass! I'd love some zebra grass - I love how tall and showy it is without being too distracting. That hyperion is beautiful, too! I have so many day lilies (most of which never bloomed last year because they got trampled) but what did bloom was some very plain yellow - nothing like hyperion! I will definitely be considering that one! And in my opinion, you can't do wrong with russian sage :)

I've got a lot of planning ahead now (half the fun). I'll definitely post progress and how the "final" product ends up (is anything ever really final?).
I'll also let the dogs all know they're cute faces are convincing.... :)

david883 - happy to help as well as share what I've enjoyed growing in my own garden. I'll admit some of what I've grown hasn't lived up to my expectations in terms of bloom/size/height but I pretty much let Ma Nature drive the train and simply make whatever adjustments are necessary to achieve a look that pleases my eye. I'll confess to doing many hours & years of research when I first moved to my current garden since I wanted to plant/mulch/enjoy my beds in a 'one and done' manner.

As a tip, the Polychroma spurge euphorbia/cushion spurge is in the poinsettia family so the yellow blooms are bracts rather than flowers. I have one growing here I transplanted from my previous home that's been thriving for me the past 25+ years. I'll confess it enjoyed a very moist location beside a tree stump the first 20 of those years.

Below are a few pictures of my own little green acre after 7 years of effort. Prior to me moving here, none of this (other than the crabapple tree) existed:

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These pictures were taken early in the season two years ago. The beds pictured are now overflowing with mature perennials, many of which were grown from seed via winter sowing.

For early on yellow and purple you can't beat iris. Those are really the colors that they commonly come in. Here are Jesse's Song, the purple plicata, and the yellow is Total Recall. Just ignore the reddish one.

I love my coreopsis. It is low maintenance, has a nice long bloom time and such interesting foliage. See picture.

Amsonia hubrichtii has steel blue spring flowers and feathery summer foliage that turns a lovely gold in the fall.

Siberian and Japanses iris also come in purple and yellow along with the bearded iris.

Danford iris (yellow) and reticulated iris (purple) are some of my earliest spring blooms, often beginning in late March here, and lasting for several weeks in the cool spring weather. They are small bulbs. Crocus would follow soon after.

Baptisia comes in both purple (B. australis and 'Purple Smoke', which has purple stems as well) and yellow ('Carolina Moonlight' and 'Screaming Yellow')

There are many purple clematis.

Here's the back of one of my beds, which is shades of purples and pinks.

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The plants are Salvia 'Plumosa' (tends to flop), Veronica 'Eveline' (fantastic plant), Achillea 'Pommegranate', Geranium 'Patricia', Campanula 'Kent Belles'

You have already gotten a lot of suggestions but I just have to comment on your doggies. Doggie number one on the deck defi itely looks guilty! And number two looks as though he is guilty of something but totally trying to act innocent. Such cuties.

I wonder if they would dig up allium bulbs. there are small yellow varieties and larger purple ones.

Oh and hardy geraniums, of course.

gardenweed - beautiful pictures. Love the walk-way garden! And such a nice setting with all the woods behind your house. Thanks for the inspiration.

aseedisapromise & barb - thanks for the iris information! I have a few very small ones that were just beautiful last year but I don't think they ever bloomed this year... They bloomed in April/May last year and, bearing in mind we had a slow start to the season this year, I never saw any flowers on them. I'd love to get some big irises and I just love the yellows! Thank you!

BlueBird - what a great mass of coreopsis! It looks great and I totally agree about the foliage - such a different shape than most.

a2zmom- love the yarrow and kent bells. I have Adenophora Tashiroi which are somewhat similar to the campanula. I think I chose these because they were slightly taller but I wanted either Kent Bells or Sarastro. Do you find you have to stake the flowers?

I'd love to try and work Ligularia britt-marie crawford into the mix, even though flowers are somewhat similar to my heliopsis.

Normally Kent Belle does not need to be staked. This season however with the continual flash floods, the poor plant just couldn't stand up to the onslaught.(It also browned out very quickly as a result). Normally very trouble free - increases slowly, doesn't seed (I've had the plant for 10 years and got one seedling), deer bypass it and quite hardy.