What about spring, when the azaleas bloom? I mostly have pink, and a few white. Uh, there is that one lavender one....

I don't think I could ever leave a bed all in one color; other colors just sneak in.

Steve Bender said the Lord made crape myrtle (only he says crepe myrtle) in many colors so you could choose just one. I think we were meant to enjoy them ALL.

Nell

I'd love to have a couple of one color beds like gottagarden's red and purple beds but then my imagination gets going what would pinks with burgundy, maybe some silver greys mixed in look like. Alas, I lack the discipline to stick to a plan.

Annette

Well, there always Sissinghurst's famous white garden.
You have to know what your're doing to pull it off.

Libby

Here is a link that might be useful:

Libby, isn't it gorgeous and what a treat to be able to view it by moonlight. A

If you have space, you can do what I've done, which is to have a long bed with color sequences (Ã la Gertrude Jekyll). That way, buy anything you like, no matter the color, and you'll know what section to put it in. I've got mine where cool colors are at each end (blue at one end, purple at the other), leading to the center where I have the scarlet reds (e.g., blue, pink, maroon, peach, yellow, orange, scarlet and back out again to purple at the other end). I've also made quadrants where each quadrant was dedicated to a color group. If you do that, think about where you'll see the quadrants most often, and which color makes a better backdrop color for the foreground quadrants.

--Ron

I too am out of control, and cannot discipline myself to a colour scheme. I just bought some bulbs for Spring....now, I could have bought the sacs with one colour in them.. Yeah, right. Not likely in this life!!! lol. 1 sac of multi-couloured parrots, 1 sac of multi-coloured triumphs and one sac of many types of daffs.

Now, that being said, in my old gardens, certain times of year had themes. Spring was bold primary colours - lots of reds and clear chrome yellows. Late Spring was pinks and purples, some whites, some bold magentas. Anyway, not happening again, I love colours, like a crazy quilt, or Joseph's many coloured coat!!

Oh, yeah, easier/harder - I gotta say way harder. When I looked at gottagardens red bed, she made some very bold combinations. They all work, but holy cow, how she balanced the foliage and the hues....WOW.
Nancy.

I have a yellow and blue/purple bed, but when I replaced my hyssop, the tag said it was blue, but the flowers are pinkish. Then, I started adding day lilies to the bed that I didn't know the colors of, and we'll see what it looks like next year. I had this thought that if the bed is mostly two colors, it's OK to have some splashes of other colors, and it can still be a yellow and blue/purple bed. I think the same would be true for a mostly single colored bed. :o)

Before adding my new bed in the front, I had a circle bed that was oranges and reds with a little yellow, but in the spring, there was an amsonia with light blue flowers that was in the bed. It's not there anymore, though. My new bed is going to be a multicolored bed with lots of pinks, purples, oranges, and reds, but any color will be accepted in this club. LOL

I have a small area in front of my veggie garden that has different colors of foliage, and mostly white flowers. I plan to move the boltonia to the back and add more white blooming flowers next year.

Sue

I'm with Ron on using adjacent harmonic colors side-by-side in progression. I tend to use bloom colors with blue undertones and throw in foliage, too. However, at the far end of this photo, I'm re-working the area to advance from pure and deep bloom over to apricot to gold.
{{gwi:22175}}From July 2008

I also have a patchwork of color in my butterfly garden. Not much design as it is for the birds, bees and butterflies. Red/yellow/gold/blue/purple/orange all together.

Cameron

that would be pure sky blue and deep BLUE, not BLOOM! Sorry.

I'm a little late to this thread, but here are my thoughts. I didn't start out with monochrome beds, they sort of evolved that way. And I think it makes it much easier for planting and arranging to have those restrictions. That said, my two largest beds are multi-colored, although dominated by purples. And sometimes the odd colors and mislabeled bulbs and seeds add a needed contrast to a monochrome planting. As time goes on, I think I will be introducing just a little more of colors opposite on the color wheel to add some more dynamism. But just a little, not a lot.

I also find that by having different color themed gardens I avoid having everything look too "samey", where the same plants are in all the beds and one bed is pretty much the same as another.

I'm tempted to plant an all white garden (see the Sissinghurst post); but, it's been my experience with many white flowers that the blooms become brownish or "dirty" when fading (of course, they're dying) or even a couple days after the bud opens. Phlox is the exception, tho needs to be dead headed eventually. Other plants with white blooms that flower along a stalk, will have bright fresh new buds above and brown dead flowers below the new blooms. So, I'm curious how the white garden would appear all season. Maybe, there are only a few weeks that it would look uniformly white.

Also, I planted a zinnia one time and the packet of seeds boasted that it was the first "true white zinnia". It wasn't really, but it came close.

OMG, that Sissinghurst garden is amazing. What are those tall spikey white flowers on the right? LOVE them.

Thanks for your thoughts and inspirational pictures. Maybe I will try to do a one color bed and see how it goes. I've always loved white gardens ala Sissinghurst. I would like to put in a lot of white plants in my front yard once we get the hardscaping done but it's too big to be all white and I know I couldn't keep the plan for very long.

threeorangeboys, could that be some kind of white Veronica? I'm just making a wild guess. Mine are pink and certainly don't make as tall a flower as the ones pictured on the right. It looks like Veronica on steroids.

I think the white plant on the right hand side of the picture of Sissinghurst is one of the Veronicastrums.

Annette

Here is a link that might be useful: Veronicastrums

Wonbyherwits (I like your nickname)...What is that flowered tree in your photo?...(I can't see good)...A Knockout Rose tree?...Very pretty.

Ashli -- that's a Crape Myrtle. You should be able to grow them in your area, too.

Won By Her Wits is the registered name of our rescued greyhound (aka 'Charm').

Cameron