There is a lime green Coleus and a lime green dwarf Nicotiana.

That photo you showed is a spring bed with tulips, babies breath, english daisies and pansies and all are at the peak of flowering. Although it is very pretty, it wouldn't look like that a month later.

Thanks oilpainter for the Nitkotinia-info.
Sure the pic is just springflowers. And I just thought, I want to recreate this color combination with summer annuals. I was so impresssed by this combination, it reminds me of a light saspberry sherbet or something.
Bye, Lin

Aren't these photos in magazines and in public gardens so deceiving to the average flower gardener? I would love to be able to work at a place like Longwood gardens from the planting of the seeds to the starter plants themselves, then watch them being planted. I have tried to watch the landscape people that plant our community flowerbeds..That soil is so well tilled and nourished that it looks like it is so easy to plant in. I noticed that they plant close together so they get a certain look that grows like a mass of color.

You cant say much against this picture but I am still of a mind that many colors destroys the look. To make a garden work for the beholder, same colors, same hues, same heights, planted en masse makes for a more beautiful picture and a more secure garden.
I know this can sometimes cause problems owing to the amount of space required but where color matters, sameness works.

Oh goren! that sounds boring to me,and not to my taste. I like a mixture of colors and heights. I do like to mix colors like linaria is thinking of. I also think coming across a little gem among the ordinary makes a bed interesting.

To each his own though. If you are pleased with the result your way, then that's the way it should be

ooops, I didn`t mean to cause a discussion.
Just for complete information: I took the pic myself. They change the plants twice a year, and I always mean to count the amount of plants per square meter (or feet or something) and never get around to do it. I watch and admire tthis particular bed for three years now, since we moved to this area.
About the soil: yes, they really go out of their way when preparing the bed. Last season they even changed the top soil, so everything was fluffy and perfect for planting.
masses and colors: sure that I get a different result when playing around in 4 puny window boxes, using summer annuals. It`s just that I loved this light color scheme. The two from the previous years werent bad: one with orange, yellow something, the other pink, purple .... But this year`s just looked so ... light and freshly laundered and happy (well, positiv somehow).

So this pic is just my source of inspiration and a way to have more fun when planing my next year`s planting.
I will dig up more pics with other planting schemes of this bed, just some more eye candy for flower lovers...

Well, enjoy your present summer flowers, bye, Lin

'Sameness' is a theme that works for some individuals, goren. It's certainly safe, that's for sure. But I daresay that most people would find a garden filled with plants of the same color, hue, height, etc. extremely dull.

The bed illustrated above is deceptively simple and a good example to follow. The central part of the design consists mainly of two different colors of zinnias and two different pansies.

It looks like the little white flower that borders those plants might be another type of zinnia, Zinnia angustifolia, one of my all time favorite border plants. It blooms from spring until frost, laughing at the summer heat and sun. The flowers remain pure white, and do not fade out.

Rhizo:
I think you are wrong about which flowers those are
Those may look like Zinnias but they are not. They are the biennial, spring blooming, English Daisy--of that I am positive. I have grown them for years. I seriously doubt that the airy white ones are Augustifolia Zinnias either. Although I can't be absolutely certain it looks more like pink and white Gypsophila or baby's breath to me.

Hello,
to give more information: oilpanter got it right, it is a spring scheme, with forget-me-nots (Myosotis-hybr.) in white and pink, Viola cornuta (Pansies`little cousins) in pastels and with little or no eye/ black in the centre, filled/ double Bellis perennis in 2 shades of pink. + a gorgeous mix of Tulips and bleeding heart ? (Dicentra spectabilis). And it was all moved and ripped out in the second week of May.
So here from a diferent angle

spring 2010
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summer scheme 2010

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just for comparison

April 2009
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spring 2008

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well, just love to watch this bed, always a surprise. Thanks, Lin

I just loved the pics....

Excuse me while I find my Mr. Magoo glasses, lol!

Here is a link that might be useful: Where'd I put those darned things?

Man, this gives me tulip fever! I saw the very first bulbs in a store yesterday, so it won't be long...
Thanks for the wonderful pictures, linaria!