Too many clashing colours

I love clashing colours Sg. but I cannot see any here!!

no clashes in the garden.apparently!!

I think the red hot pokers clash very badly with the geranium which is dark pink with a white centre and the paeony roses are pink. I scattered the seeds of the blue and pink annuals which are flowering in the pic. last May in between the rhps and they self seeded in the autumn. It was a summer flower mix which included lots of different flowers and looked quite pretty. They flowered after the RHPs had gone over. Self seeding means the seeds are planted in September and come up very early the following year. I am grateful for the colour but if I was starting again I would be more careful to have plants which compliment each other together.

Looks fine to me!

It will have to do me if this weather continues. LOL.

It's to get better tomorrow Scotsgran :)

It has not been as bad as we feared although I believe there were gusts recorded up to 76mph on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh this afternoon. We have experienced a lot worse than we have had over the past 48 hours. An improvement will be very welcome.

I was up a ladder painting the fence this afternoon, holding on so tight my knuckles were white. Should not have been up there, but it needed to be done.

You are a brave lady. I hope the rain did not spoil your handiwork. Was someone at the bottom of the ladder? You sound like Costas who got paint on his face but he was only working indoors.

Are you going to move the RHP Scotsgran, or the pink and blue flowers, or leave them, what are your plans? if any :)))

The annuals which are growing among the red hot pokers on this west facing border I have now removed hopefully before they reseeded. I am planning to plant some Crocosmia Firejumper in between the red hot pokers to bulk that out and cut down on weeds. I also fancy some more Galtonia Hyacinthus Candicans (summer flowering hyacinths) in there to give a contrast and add height. It will extend the flowering season too. There are a fair few alliums there which flower earlier and before them I have daffodils and tulips naturalised in the grass. I bought some new varieties of red hot pokers and i was planning to put them in there but I have another south facing border of early flowering rhp (see page 14 of my photos) only one row deep in front of my long troughs in front of the kitchen window. I think I will put them in there. Mixing them in the first row and in a second row. It means digging up some more lawn but that is what goyers do. I have some day lilies which need to be split so that will help fill that border. I have one pot of Crocosmia 'George Davidson which is a pure golden yellow and it can be put in next to the seating area. I have plenty plans it is a case of will my roundtuit get me there. I might replace this geranium with a blue flowering one I also bought the other day. It has dark foliage and will grow to about the same size. I would like a geranium Roxanne but i have not seen one so far. We may be going down to Gateshead on Saturday so with any luck i will maybe get one in Morpeth GC. Must check on what is available in the area. There used to be 2 GCs near the racecourse. One on each side. If we come down the A68 there is a Dobbies near the Airport too. I can use this Geranium at the front where i am getting rid of some wild Alstroemeria. It falls all over the place and is a total nightmare. I am planning on putting lupins in that area and will need more than them. I thought i had this garden sorted as an easy to keep spring flowering garden with winter flowering heather and various flowering shrubs but it has all gone pear shaped since i started meddling with hardy perennials. I seem to be going for a full time gardeners job with year long flowering interest. It must be the first signs of senility - not being able to decide on anything and stick to it. LOL.I'd better stop before i demotivate everybody.

Phew, loads of plans then Scotsgran, I love RHPs and the leaves too, exotic looking :) I think some light coloured and red grasses will look good there too, so will the yellow crocs, and the day lillies, you see its all coming together. Ive looked at your pic again and i think a couple of brighter leaved plants would look great, maybe hosta or brunnera's. ok gonna stop now, its not my border hahaha...

I did toy with the idea of mixing the rhp with other things but they need to be dug up and replanted every three to five years and they have roots going to Australia so i am trying not to make too much work for myself. There is a lot of those white daisies with bright yellow centres which make a great contrast to the sword like foliage, Tanacetum Parthenum, (Golden leaved Feverfew). As it is a self seeding annual I weed out what I do not want. it is also easy to transplant. I have also started splitting and planting a row of pulmonaria angustifolia Blaues Meer along that west facing border. You are quite right it does need contrasts to give it interest. Thank you for taking an interest. I find it helpful to discuss plans with gardeners. My OH will buildfor Scotland when it comes to hard landscaping as long as I know what I want but he is only prepared to cut grass.

Your hub and mine were made in the same mould Scotsgran, I dont think i could stand it if he was a gardener, messing with my plants lol. He's great at building tho :))
Sounds like you have a plan, its just remembering what the plan is, im hopeless at remembering, this year ive saved a lot of blogs on goy to remind me what i want to try next year.
Ive had loads of advice from members and learned so much, my gardens wouldn't be what they are today if it wasn't for Goy..
Good luck with your plant hunting this weekend, bet your all excited, I would be... Dee..

I so agree that Goy is a great incentive to do better. I am much more organised in keeping names etc than i used to be. I would research a plant i wanted and make sure i got exactly the right variety but once i had it i was not too bothered about what it was as long as it fitted where it was placed.When people want to know what you have it is a bit embarrassing to have to admit to not knowing. People on here are like walking encyclopedias and if they can't help they will tell you who can. People are very generous in offering plants too. I have a few more "friends" in the garden even if we have never met. I have been fortunate enough to meet quite a few of them in person at Spritzs open day and at Gardening Scotland and at the Scottish Rock Garden Club Show. It has been a long time since we have been down in Newcastle. We were regular visitors when my daughter was there at Uni and then working in the area. I am hoping the weather is half decent so we do go.

Been reading all you plans Scotsgran....you have lots to do. It all sounds great. I have my RHP with crocosmia - it looks kinda silly just now as the RHP need to fill out a bit before they make any sort of impact.
I hope you have a good time in Morpeth - and just as good a time at the GCs.
BTW Dobbies in Livingston had G. Roxanne on sale half price last week. I amazed myself by going into the GC and did not come away with any plants :)
Young Daisy - I see you are like me - I save pictures of things I like and would like to replicate certain elements in my garden. It's amazing the amount of good advice and tips you get. :)

I'll pop up they may still have one. Thank you for the tip off.

Interesting discussion & have enjoyed reading through it all. I have a RHP standing next to an unknown plain boring shrub ... does nothing & the foliage isn't special at all. I'm thinking I should remove the boring shrub ... if anyone is interested, there is a pic showing the area with the RHP & this not-so-nice shrub. Behind that, is a lush border of agapanthus, against the house, which I definitely want to keep. Nothing else apart from grass & a muddy driveway. Now that spring is upon us in my part of the world, I am thinking that a wide herbaceous border all along the driveway on the house-side is the way to go, & then round the corner of the house where the RHP is, I think I will put in some crocosmia, as has been discussed above. Scotsgran & Scottish ... what colour crocosmia do you have next to your RHP? I am not a huge fan of oranges & yellows, & I usually only like a splash of red here & there as an accent colour ... across the driveway, near the rather delapidated garage, there is a group of orange canna lilies, so I guess this whole area is telling me it ought to be in those bolder hues, when what I actually am visualizing is the more pastel romantic tones. Would mixing all those tones together look ok??? I actually like the planting in your photo, Scotsgran.

Purple looks great with orange Dwyllis, add a touch of red too, Dont forget to add foliage colour, I am a massive fan of different colour and shaped leaves together, even if the flowers arent attractive :) Or if your wanting pastel's, you could dig out the bold colour flowers, replant elsewhere and start a new border, The skys your limit lol..

Scotsgran, im the same with names of plants, I save the labels now because i too get embarrased, I described a plant in one of my blogs as a purple Spikey plant as i dont have the label any more !! so, sorry to everyone here for my ignorance :)))))

Dwyllis...my RHP are next to an orange/yellow crocosmia, not very keen on the whole 'hot area' of my border. Too much yellow and orange. I have a purple colour Acer and wine coloured daylillies planted there which are being outshone by Achillea (Terracotta) - they are too small too see. I will sort this out next year, too much gone wrong. If you want to see a little inspiration for planting a shrub with your RHP - try this link. The contrasts are amazing (I think)

http://www.gapphotos.com/imagedetails.asp?imageno=219032

Daisy I don't remember the common names for plants - the latin names stick in my head but not the way they are supposed to be pronounced, but I always double check before I type anything on GoY :)))
I think your tip re purple and red with the orange and yellows is one I may follow next year. My neighbour has a red crocosmia to which I am able 'help myself' as the clump is huge! I may try this out in place of the orange/yellow ones.

Did you manage to get your hands on one of those geraniums Scotsgran?

The great thing about YOUR garden and i mean our gardens are that you never see two exactly alike. The plants do their own thing and all we can do is plan a design and hope it works. If not there is always next year. New Zealand is the home of Hebes and if you follow YDDs advice you can kill 2 birds with one plant the Hebe Society gives photos of hebes and also a list of over 200 New Zealand native plants. Well worth a look at the link below. http://www.hebesoc.org/nz_plants/nz_plants_h/nz_plants_h.htm
Scottish no I have not been able to get there yet. May be up today. I had a look at the link you suggested and I have the feverfew, tanacetum parthenium, in there already. It is everywhere in the garden and I weed it out of places where I do not want it. The physocarpus would be a problem when it comes to splitting the RHPs as it is a shrub. I got a free packet of Aquilegia Black Barlow and I have at least 6 plants so they would add interest. Part of the problem is keeping a significant amount of colour in this particular border over a longer period of time because once the RHPs are past flowering there needs to be an alternative source of colour. I need to do a blog showing the development of this border. I definitely want to keep the 7m long border of RHPs because it is now a feature in its own right. I got a leucanthemum and it spreads and flowers over a long period. (White daisy with a yellow centre). I also have Cephalaria Gigantea which i could split and use in here. Plenty of ideas been stimulated with the discussion. Thanks everybody.

Scottish my tardiness paid dividends. I got my Roxanne for one third of the original price, £3. I also got a rockery dianthus originally £6.99 for only 50p.

Well done on your bargains :))
You certainly have plenty to think about and to consider in your long border. I have no doubt you will make it your own and having it looking how you want it over time.
One of my faults in the garden is that I always underestimate just how big something is going to grow and the ones I want to grow big just take too long to get there :)
I am trying to rearrange a few thing in the garden just now whilst the weather is still with us in hope that it looks a bit better next year.
Good luck with what ever you decide to do in your border and I look forward to seeing the new pictures next year :)))

Scotsgran ... hello again. I will probably pop some Hebes around the garden .... everybody has at least one in a NZ garden lol. I had three in my previous garden, & I have spotted one on the planted side of the driveway here, all smothered over by an over-zealous, but lovely-smelling honeysuckle. I have quite a bit of clearing up work to do along that side of the driveway, & will be pulling out a conifer I think, & two other not-so-attractive shrubs, in order to put in other things. I am going to have to really think about what to do with the area where the RHP is. My OH insists on turning his car there, as he doesn't like backing down the driveway & out onto the road, so whatever I do end up planting there, will really have to sit in a border around the side of the house, so that there is still room for him to do that (thankgoodness he has just got a little sportscar which doesn't take up as much room as a saloon). Ideally, I would have loved to take over the whole area, as it would have been very pretty to have it all planted up. Perhaps I will take over it once we retire in five years, as we will only need one car then & I don't mind backing out at all.

Dwyllis.....get him to reverse UP the drive. That way he doesn't have to reverse onto the road and then you can have the garden you want :))))

I'm chuckling at the thought that you think you will need only one car when you retire. We thought so too. I gave my car to my son as he needed a reliable set of wheels when he got his first real job. Until then he had had a Saab 96 and we or his local AA man who was also a Saab enthusiast were always on hand to come to his rescue. It did not take long before my OH felt abandoned and very unhappy because i needed to use the car to get me to my many interests. We live in a rural area and the bus service is rubbish. We had to get another car. 22 years later we still need 2 cars. That is a long drive to back up Scottish. I can't see him agreeing to do that. If you grow something like a climbing hydrangea or a pyracantha or a ceanothus against the wall it will give the impression of being a larger space than if you keep the plants at a lower level. I used that trick in a small back yard in my daughters first flat. It looked much bigger than it actually was.