That Is *Not* Purple

One of the first things that I learned about in terms of garden planning was the importance of a color scheme. Along with things like repetition of patterns, staggered bloom times, and interesting foliage, having a color scheme to a garden helps give it a sense of unity and harmony.

Luckily, I read about this stuff before I got too far down the perennial-purchasing path. I'd also done some reading about native plants of Minnesota and the plants attract butterflies and birds. Putting those concepts with the plants and bloom colors I found that I liked best, the color scheme for my garden emerged as red, yellow, purple and white. Why?

• In terms of what's not in there, I think we've already covered how there's no pink in my garden, just like there's no crying in baseball.
• Red is pretty much at the top of the list in terms of attracting birds -- especially hummingbirds, although I have yet to ever see one in the city -- and butterflies. Plus, my mom always taught me that every room in a house needs a tiny bit of true red -- and the garden is one of my favorite "rooms."
• Yellow also works well for attracting birds and butterflies, and there are lots of easy-to-grow natives that are yellow (e.g., Solidago/goldenrod, Rudbeckia/black-eyed Susan, etc.). I also think I wanted an excuse to grow sunflowers -- either the dwarf varieties that I grew last year to feed the orioles or the giants I'm growing this year.
• When I was reading up on native plants, there were lots of purple natives. (Early on, I went so far as to consider a native-only garden, although I eventually decided that was a bit too rigid for a beginner. Given that I was leaning that way, though, you can see how that could contribute to me using purple.)
• White is important in both bloom color and foliage color, hence my choice of pale-leaved annuals like Senecio (Dusty Miller) and perennials like Stachys (Lamb's Ears). White not only works to blend colors harmoniously in the garden, but it gives your eye a "baseline" that helps you perceive the trueness of each color.

Given the reasons above, combined with the fact that those four colors worked well together, I've stuck with it. I'm throwing in a bit of blue this year, but I think that works pretty well with the purple/yellow/red/white thing.

The part that gets tricky is when I select something based on its color, and I get something I didn't expect. One example is the Thunbergia I planted along the part-shade trellises. When I grew Thunbergia last year, the varieties I got were all yellow-bloomed. But I purchased these before they had flowers on them, and they're turning out to be a nearly electric orange. I can't be too upset: they're growing well and at the moment they're only next to white blooms, so there's not a major clash.

Unfortunately, that's not the case with my Echinacea Purpurea, or purple coneflower. A perennial, Echinacea has a good chance of not blooming the first year it's planted. I popped three of them into the ground last year, and moved them into new homes this year as part of the raised-bed project. Last Friday, one of them bloomed for the first time.

WTF?!? That's not purple; that's full-on pink! Sparklegirl is not amused.

Ahem. Excuse me. So:

For a), There's no pink in my garden. No crying in baseball; no pink! I definitely would not have chosen this if was going to be pink.

For 2) [Yes, a) and 2) -- I always do that.], Who the honk would have known this was going to be pink?!? The name of the fricken' plant has "purple" in it!! OK, that's not really a guarantee: purple foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea) comes in several colors including white. But still.

For three), It's bad enough that it's pink, but it has to be a cool bluish-pink right next to the bright warm-red of the Salvia -- gross. As the Renegade Gardener says, you look at a color combination like that and "you'll need a brisk walk in fresh air to keep a cold shrimp dinner." I'm not sure the photo really does justice to how awful the red-pink clash is. Trust me. It's nauseating.

So now what? Well, first things first. I got out my fantastic new pruning shears and lopped that pink flower right off. Into the compost pile with you, my pretty. But now what about the plants?

• Well, I pawned off that pink-and-white phlox on our Awesome NeighborsTM, and it looks really nice next to their Dicentra. (I don't have a problem with pink in other gardens, just mine.) But they've recently mentioned that they're worried about the crowding in their perennial beds, so I'm not sure they're up for another three plants.
• I could maybe move them to the front of the house next to the pink Spirea, but I'm planning on getting rid of that thing this fall (I'm hoping to replace it with a Eunonymus Alatus/Burning Bush). Plus, the hose doesn't reach around to the front of the house, and I know I won't be able to transplant successfully without lots of watering. (I realizes that compromises my Eunonymus plans.)
• Much as I love the idea of Craigslist or the Twin Cities Free Market, I'm not sure I want to invite that much involvement from strangers. This certainly isn't a "come help yourself" situation; I get worried when M starts walking to close to some of my plants.

So although it's an odd solution for perennials, maybe I'll pot them and bring them to work. For the first time in years, I've got an office with a window and lots of light. Oo! And maybe someone here will fall in love with them and take them home to a place where they can be their beautiful pink selves.