a pleasing palette

While the contractors are hard at work inside the house, the plants are growing, growing, growing outside. Ian has been a trouper, watering nearly every day -- and the weather forecast suggests there’s no end in sight. (Sorry.) I’m especially pleased with the results in the front garden.

I put in a few perennials, but since we’re planning a major revamp this fall and don't want to stress stuff out by moving it, I added mostly annuals. The previous homeowners had planted a number of spring-blooming perennials and the enormous hostas, which were fairly easy to work around -- their foliage is a nice uniform green, and they blend in nicely.


The color palette pretty much chose itself: purple, maroon, yellow and chartreuse thanks to yellow-blooming Russian stonecrop, purple eupatorium and chartreuse and maroon tiarella. I added maroon heuchera and Japanese painted ferns, chartreuse dwarf hosta (thanks, Dad!) and coleus, and purple-flowered spiderwort (thanks, Aunt Lonnie!), browallia and plectranthus. Later, right around the time the peach daylilies (also from Dad) bloom, I’ll add hanging baskets that include peach kalanchoe to tie it all together. I hope.

Just a week after I finished planting (and snapped these photos), this little garden looks much different--and better. Think how much nicer it will look next year, when it doesn't have such a big, white background to contend with!

What are you growing right now?