Yellow and orange. Hot reds, avoid cool reds. Purple for accent.

Oh. I don't like yellow or orange flowers particularly, although occasionally I do like them in the house for a shot of color - not in the garden, with a few exceptions. I can see how that would look good, though - will consider. I suppose I can't go wrong with white next to the house and further up the drive (away from the house) do more in the way of cool-toned reds and white, but too much white is blah.

Ugh. What I am supposed to do with my gorgeous cobalt blue ceramic planter! I guess I could set it out there and see if it sets off convulsions...but might not look too bad against the siding - ? (yellow or orange flowers sure would look smashing in that cobalt pot, though!).

How about white, yellow and purple?

The complimentary color of red is green. The complimentary color of orange is purple. I'd plant some foliage plants interspersed with mauve, deep purple, white and blue flowers

In the traditional color model the complementary color to orange is blue. Complementary colors tend to make each other look more intense so you need to decide whether that is the desired outcome...:-) Is the orange-y siding that color that gets used often on 'modern'-styled houses lately? There's a quite nice one that was built on the next street over from here. It has inserts of that orange-y wood in what is otherwise nice a gray 'stone' building. The landscaping went in this spring and it is mostly green and white variegated hostas and some smaller very upright grasses that now have nice tan-coloured heads. Given that the grasses likely need full sun and the front is shady, I suspect the hostas will survive but the grasses fade out! I think there may be some white hydrangeas too - I'll pay more attention the next time I pass by! The effect is simple, clean, and attractive.

I would avoid all shades of red, pink and orange. And maybe gold too.

I'd do white, green, lavender, blue, lemon yellow. There are some variegated hostas (white and green, yellow and green) that are strikingly beautiful. Like this Orange Marmalade:

Or these: very young Junes.

Yes, I can see how the white and the green would compliment the orange-y siding (mine is lighter and oranger than yours, Littlebug). My instincts are telling to go with white flowers by the house (*maybe* the cobalt blue pot with white flowers on the porch). I will have over 3 acres -- the other colors of flowers can go way up by the road LOL!

I have a very neutral-colored brick now, anything will go with it, I couldn't make a clashy mess of it if I tried-- this new house is definitely not neutral in tone...

Is it in the budget to stain the house a browner shade?

Blues with orangey tones, absolutely. My favorite color combination is shades of orange, blue/violet shades, and accents of white.

"Is it in the budget to stain the house a browner shade?"

No.

The siding was recently done, anyway (as in totally new siding) -- there really is no reason to re-stain it other than for aesthetic reasons, and I know DH won't go for that even if it were in the budget. Perhaps over time when it actually needs re-staining...

It doesn't matter. The dominant colour, in all gardens, for the vast majority of the year is green...which also acts as a mediator between all other colours. As long as you choose a fairly harmonious selection of ANY colour set at all, the green will always be between the blooms and the surrounding hard landscaping and architecture.

i guess i would consider using annuals.. to test it all out .... the first year ...

pix..pix.. pix.. when you get them ...

is this a done deal??? .. the house i mean ...

also ... consider not putting beds/plants too close to a house.. that needs maintenance ... you will need to get in there ... sooner or later ...

this was a lesson that was hard to learn ... moving to acreage .....

ken

"It doesn't matter"

No, it does matter. To me, anyway. If colors clashed, It's all I would see when I drive up the driveway. Now, vantage point does matter -- like I mentioned I'm not concerned about the plantings in the back, I'm going to plant lots of white, blue/lavender, splashes of soft pink, maybe an occasional hot pink, just like I do at my current house, because my view is out of the house, not toward it, so I'm going to plant what I like rather than what looks good against the siding.

I think it's a done deal, Ken - but it's not over 'till the ink is dry on the contracts. This is one thing I have learned these past 6-7 months...anything can go wrong with a real estate deal.

What I am trying to say, Mxk3, is that the dominant green always comes between the flowers and the background so as long as you choose a colour scheme which is internally consistent (plum, purple, lime for example) the architectural background is less of a clash than you might imagine. Having said that, with the orangey background, you could do worse than remaining within a warm pallette and looking at bronze (uncinia rubra, carex testacea), apricots (abelias, roses), warm yellows (rather than cool primroses), plums, burgundies, salmon, maroons and cream...with flashes of lime and purples. Not cool pinks, lilacs or lavenders and be careful with reds.

OK, OK, the wheels are turning now....it's coming to me. Flowers of white and dark purple/blue by the house. :0)