Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Surprising Combinations in the Perennial Garden

My front spiral perennial bed hides, and sometimes highlights, more than one edible or useful plant. As I was walking around with my gardener's frown, - you know the kind that quickly turns to delight when you see 'that plant' finally in flower - I noticed some unintented but quite pleasing combinations.

The complementary ruffle of varigated 'Citronella' Geranium and annual 'Torch' Blanket Flower:

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The contrasting colours of Delphinium 'Butterfly Blue' with edible Nasturtium 'Peach Melba':

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The dark mystery resonating between the deep purple Clematis and the black seeds of anise tasting sugar substitute Sweet Cicely:

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And finally, the feeling of a meadow created by wild fleabane (weed), flowering with yellow columbine and the tea substitute Monarda:

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Sometimes your best effort is the accidental one.

1 comment:

Gus&Otto said...

Your garden looks wonderful. I really love some of the combinations you have there.

Looking at your bee balm, I think I'm going to finally have to accept that the plant has disappeared from my back garden. I've seen it blooming in others gardens and thought I had some stems, but now that I'm back from vacation and it hasn't appeared, it may indeed be gone. I'm going to have to take a closer look.