Have you ever heard of complimentary colors. These are colors that are opposite on the color wheel. They are colors that bring out the best in each other. Often they are colors chosen for holidays--Red and green--yellow and mauve or purple. Orange and blue haven't been taken yet but they are complimentary colors too. Then there's mixtures of colors--red-- orange with blue-green. That's the technical explaination of colors but there is so much more and your eye is the best indicator of what goes together. You do it every day when you get dressed.

Besides color mix dark colors with light colors. A pale pink will show off a dark burgandy and vise versa. Don't forget foliage Lime green coleus next to a dark red flower or blue green foliage next to orange

My advice: Plant what YOU like, to heck with anyone else's opinion, if you like it and it makes you happy, that's all that matters :0)

That said, since you asked for opinions, I detest pink and red together - really gets on my nerves.

I personally prefer a softer color scheme in my back beds, which is what I see the most. I use shades of purple/lilac, soft pink, and some white - gives a very soothing/relaxing effect.

For the front of my house, I love hot pink or red - I like that zip of color to bring attention to my house. If I had to look at it all day, though, it would rev me up too much, make me too antsy, I want to be relaxed/soothed in the garden, not stimulated. Yellows and oranges would give the same effect, as would mixing opposites on the color wheel (e.g. yellow and purple) = stimulating effect.

Yes, color *can* have those sorts of effects!

Whatever you decide, you may want to select a unifier...one color that you can put in there and there and will add a repeating theme no matter what kinds of color combinations you use.

Thanks for your opinions! I know about the color wheel, but sometimes I hate feeling limited to it. I have lots of time to think about it. Thanks again.

There are so many different color wheel based themes. I don't think it's limiting at all, just the opposite.

Not that I think along those terms when planning my garden areas, lol! I tend to use the whole color spectrum willy nilly and will often use white as the one note that binds them all together.

Be sure to let us know what you decide...planning is so much fun.