Question from Susan:
I am new to gardening and would like to know if you could suggest some good combinations of plants. I think I will eventually learn how to do this, but right now I don’t have a clue.
Answer from Pat:
I agree with you that when planting a garden it’s good to think up especially great combinations. I guess it is no surprise to anyone I like colorful plants and putting them into combinations that “sing”. One of the things that makes for a great garden is the combinations of plants in it. Folks who simply buy a bunch of things they like and plunk them into the ground giving no thought to color combinations will never get the exciting look that results from putting color schemes together in various areas of the garden. The great thing is one can combine different plants at various times of year and in various parts of the garden. One can do this will annual plants but also with climbers, shrubs, and perennials that will repeat the display year after year. For example, blue, yellow, pink, and white is one of the loveliest of all color combinations and one can achieve it with many different plants, such as (among annuals) blue lobelia, yellow pansies, pink primroses, and white alyssum. Gray foliage plants also look good with this combination of colors. You can also add a lavender-colored flower and it will blend in beautifully, but don’t ever use orange with this color scheme. It kills the effect. This would be a combination to put together in a pot for full sun. Plant in October and it will bloom all winter. Here are a few ideas for permanent plantings:
I simply love to put bright yellow Copper Canyon daisy (Tagetes lemonii) next to purple and gray Mexican sage (Salvia leucantha.) These two plants are both about the same size (About 3 or 4 feet wide and tall). They are too big for small gardens but look great together at roadside or on a bank where they can be seen and enjoyed from a road.They bloom at the same time, spring and fall, most spectacularly in fall. Copper Canyon daisy is a woody shrub, not a perennial. Cut back hard after bloom and it will bloom again 6 months later and do so spectacularly. Mexican sage is not a woody shrub, though many people wrongly think so. Mexican sage is a true perennial that renews itself every year in late winter or early spring. Cut it back lightly in fall and then in mid-February (or March inland) after all danger of frost is past, cut down all the old woody stems leaving all the new 8-or-12-inch tall basal foliage that will have sprung from the ground by then, thus giving you an entirely new plant. If you do this in fall it might die. I once killed a whole row of Mexican sage by cutting them back hard in fall on a rainy year. (The plants rotted during the winter.) Mid-February pruning prevents this from happening.
Another excellent plant to combine with Tagetes lemonii is fringe flower (Hypoestes aristata), which is a pinkish purple and will cover itself in bloom in part shade in November. Hypoestes is also a true but large perennial. It blooms spectacularly once a year in November. Cut it back by removing all the old growth that has bloomed. Cut it back lightly in fall and then cut back harder in February, leaving basal foliage springing from the ground. Like the Mexican sage you will get a whole new plant. If it grows too tall, take off a foot or two in June. It will bloom just as well but it will be shorter and wider. Hypoestes makes an excellent tall and wide background plant, in semi shade, with the Tagetes in front in full sun. I have found this to be an utterly stunning combination since they both bloom in November, lighting up the garden at a time of year when we sometimes lack a big splash of color.
One of my special combinations is purple Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis ‘Cookes Special’) and orange clivia (Clivia miniata). For many years I have grown large drifts of clivias in the shade of a long pergola and a patio overhang both overgrown with wisteria. The two plants bloom at the same time, orange and light purple, truly a heart-lifting combination.
Pink or orange are great with gray or lavender. For example, In winter I love to put a drift of peach colored cyclamen with any gray leaved plant in the background, and California poppy looks incredible when seen against a backdrop of Spanish lavender (Lavendula stoechias ‘Otto Quast.’)
I live in North County and I am moving in March to a nearby home. I would like to transfer my 10 foot border of beautiful clivias, that have bloomed every year for the past decade, to clay or plastic pots. They are just at the cusp of blooming. I divided them 3 years ago so the plants should not be intertwined and not significantly root bound. Your sage and trusted advice is much appreciated. Thank you!
Thanks so much for your kind comment. The old rule used to be that clivias can be divided and repotted any time after bloom until October and they will bloom as usual the following spring. My own experience has taught me that this rule no longer applies because of climate change. Some of mine were divided at the wrong time last year but all of them bloomed later and better than ever. I do suggest however, that you should put them into large tubs, not small pots. Is there no way to plant them In the ground at your new property? If there is I would wait until you move and dig and move them then. Be sure to feed with 14-14-14(Osmocote) slow release fertilizer when buds show. You can order at Grangettos in a 40 lb sack. Mine got over-fed by a garden helper who does not follow directions well and it didn’t matter. They bloomed like mad.