Colour Combos

I follow a lot of garden and landscape design writers/websites, but few are as practical as eGardenGo, a Portland Oregon based site with a main purpose of demonstrating great plant combinations. Any site that has a Pacific Northwest focus gets extra points from me; it means I can assume a lot of applicability right off the bat.

So, “plant combinations”: that’s what I’ve been meaning to write about since spring, and finally getting around to it now.

And specifically, Chartreuse! In my humble opinion, chartreuse is like butter (“nothing’s better than butter”) or lemon (there’s nothing that isn’t improved with lemon). In my garden, chartreuse makes everything look better.

See if you agree:

This fluffy pillow of Euphorbia is one of the happiest plants in my garden. It tolerates any weather, any amount or lack of water, needs only mid season pruning, and responds with discreet gusto (sorry, that’s a ridiculous oxymoron…).

Everyone should have Purple Sensation Alliums in profusion.

Poor little Corylopsis has been struggling for several years; it’s probably grown about 6″ in as many years. This Fall I’ll be moving it.

Sad to say this Fern bit the dust in this spot. I moved it from elsewhere where it was hiding my view of the waterfall. But its new home had too little soil, too little water, too little attention.

Another sad story: altho’ I LOVE the colour of this Hydrangea at this stage, it looks increasingly dowdy as the summer progresses. By last week, I’d decided that 2-3 weeks of looking like this was not worth the 49-50 weeks of occupying space and giving no value in return. (See The Goodness Ratio.) It has since been re-located to another gardener’s home.

What’s your opinion? Do you agree with me?