Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' with Ligularia desdemona and Eupatorium 'Chocolate'. These are all purplish colored plants that play well off of one another and contrast nicely with orange, pink, gold and/or lemon-yellow daylilies.

Euchomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' or any of the really dark purple Pineapple Lilies mixed with Coleus 'Pineapple' for a pale gold and reddish purple effect; or with Silver Plectranthus (P. argentatus) for a purple with silver look.

I am also surprised with the color combo of Dusty Miller (the Senecio one mostly) and the two tone pansies that are white on top and maroon/burgundy on the bottom. Or dark red snapdragons and purply pink flowering kale/cabbage (I would think the yellows in the snap red and the coolness of the cabbage's reds would clash but they work really well).

Combinations of evergreens in different colors and textures. For instance, I have a Deodora Ceder near two blue cypress. This week I am planting a False Holly, white and green leaves, near a Nellie Stevens holly. I just hate the brown winter look here of my warm season grass . Linda

I'm not the biggest fan of silver-leaved plants, but silver and royal purple, or silver and true red make really stunning combinations.

mmm- i love silver plants. one of my favorite combos (not planned, really) was quite a few years ago in my garden. a large silverish artichoke, next to a tall snap called black prince- velvety dark red flower with burgundy foliage. very pretty. i also really like saffron colored california poppies planted around or near lav-blue phlox divartica. it sounds jarring but it's really pretty. for the fall i really like seeing the red lycoris/spider lilies blooming through a cloud of yellow bidens, or the fireworks goldenrod blooming with the red cascade rose. probably my very favorite combo is chartreuse and magenta/purple. any applicable plants can apply. :) and i adore what true cobalt blue (georgia blue veronica, black & blue salvia, etc) adds to just about any combo or color.

I've always liked underplanting combinations of spring bulbs--a purple crocus with a yellow one and then balanced with a third cultivar that has striped purple, white and yellow. Other little bulbs popping out of late winter lawns have alwasy been underutilized in the US--especially the tommy crocuses and anemones.

I'm a lover of inter-mixing early and late season tulips to extend a display, and moreover, playing these tulips off of each other--one tulip may be yellow but it's companion is orange with a yellow fringe, etc. COmpletely steps up the display. Same with a little zone in a lawn that has snowdrops surrounding nice clumps of cheery yellow daffodils. I've noticed European gardeners grasp this design layering very well.

Tamelask hits a great color combo--listed as CA poppies with phlox--but I was introduced to with the darkest violet shade of the Easter Bonnet alyssum underplanting a rust and orange french marigold. Sounds incompatible, but wow does it pop and really add electricity and a sense of "happiness" to a bed.

I've used a bed of apricot colored violas with orange gerbera daisies coming up out of the violas ever 12" or so.

Other combinations that work is the use of contrasting textures as compared to overstuffing containers in the US with 30 different plants, most of which get overgrown in 4 weeks and turns into a nasty, leggy version of an english cottage garden. This has occured int he use of many-a-tropic plants all over. Such a shame. Tropical plants are formost known for their foliages (as tropicals are year-round, their flowering is usually short-seasonal). Thus, fewer tropical plants allowed to reach their true majestic sizes in a pot is how it's done in the tropics.

Building on that tropical use theme, placing a large solid leaf (like a colocasia) with the whispy, feathery texture (like of a foxtail fern) will also bring attention to your eye because of the contrast. You can see only in black and white and still gain great pleasure in a planting that has spikey plants juxtaposed with round, mounded plants OR big leaves around frilly leaves, OR solid leaf coloring with one with speckles or stripings,etc.

Tropical colors that are grossly underused in the eastern US are the combos of red, orange and purple with each other (in close proximity). This is in stark contrast to the stiffer "northern European/British" tradition of pastels. I'm seeing mroe of this on occasion, but if you travel the tropics, you realize pastels are an exception (white is for noctural pollination) and you have that riot of colorations to gain attention of insects and animals in sunlight. OUt in the desert SW, there is natural arid and mediterranean plants with the bolder color combos so you see a much better use of orange, purple and red in California garden designs.

I love purples and oranges together! So that's my gardening goal - with splashes of white to break things up a bit. I think Butterfly Weed intermixed with Ruellia and underplanted with white groundcover phlox will be a great combo.

magick, could I recommend that you use Ruellia makoyana rather than Ruellia brittonia (actually R. tweediana) in that combination?

The deep purplely hues of the R. makoyana leaves will make the orange of hte asclepias really pop.

I'd even go so far as to abandon the use of white--that's a very Northern/English thing to do. Break the purple and orange up with a third flower color such as yellow or with a different (yellowy) shade of green leaves in the mix.

Sounds good... I'll have to put R. makoyana on my wish list for the spring swap! Maybe some yellow green succulents as an under planting. I've got Bengal Cannas on the front side of a chainlink fence with Salvias planted on the back side - can't wait to see how that will look.

I worked for Lowes until the end of 2007, and in the fall we got in a combination 6pk of pansies from a VERY large annual provider. Usually the combos were, to me, uninspired, but this one sold out in 6hrs on a cold day! They called it 'wine and cheeses' and it was a selection of solidly colored, (clear,) pansies in deep purple, intence yellow, white, and a firey rust/magenta. I had to hide 3 6pks so the customers didn't take them all. I tried to reorder but the 21acre greenhouse had SOLD OUT. I will try to immitate the combo in my yard if I can. Maybe I could use daylilies to create the same effect?
---Keith

i saw a bed done one time with a similar combo and about wrecked the car trying to get a better look. i think it was all the colors you mentioned minus the purple, but that would add a nice sparkle. it had wine colored tulips growing in it as well, which really looked nice.

It's funny to sit and remember all the times I have had to pass a home and turn around to drive "slowly" by again. I have thought about carrying a stack of "Thank You" cards so I could leave a bit of encouragement for a job well done. I think It would be affirming to check the mail and find that someone, other than myself, likes my work.

As a change I remembered in the aforementioned color combo, It was not pure white, but the palest cream color. I love the thought of having colors to represent grapes (purple),red and white wines, and the yellow cheese.
---Keith

Keith leaving a note for someone is a wonderful idea.

i second that- that's a great idea i may appropriate, too! it's only happened a few times to me, that someone will slow down and compliment me on my gardens while i'm out by the road- but boy, it sure warms the cockles when it happens!! too often i think the folks that pour their hearts & soul into their gardens are made to feel like they're using too many resources or not in with the 'norm', esp in subdivides (whatever THAT means). i think that encouraging people who are creative and follow their heart is the best way to counteract the 'let's do everything in tasteful cream' middle of the road blah mentality. :)