Artful Combinations, June 2017

Here are a few combinations that have worked well in the garden.

Often, they start with serendipity and then I keep building on it. Make sure you scroll to the last photo from Michigan. It's worth it.

Early June- Orange Cosmos and Scabiosa Ochroleuca

These just keep re-seeding themselves each year.

Late June- This garden bed was inspired by meadow gardens that I've seen in the UK and in plenty of garden magazines. It starts with lots of soft blues in Spring and morphs into summer colors.

A few purples have been added: salvia and also pincushion flowers.

I'll continue to build on the blues in this garden. The green plant on the right is a blackberry lily. It blooms later in the season.

The daylily show is starting. June 1st: Yarrow and daylilies

Summer classics: Daylilies, Russian Sage and Phlox David.

I had no idea that this yellow daylily would work so well with the others.

My mother gave it to me in the Fall, so I really didn't have a detailed image of their daylily neighbors . I will remember details, now that I have this blog. It's a great journal.

This is probably more exuberant than artful! Lots of echinaceas, yarrow, liatris and daylilies.

In the backyard: Black and blue sage, Mardi Gras abelia, bee balm and

spiderwort. The abelia is the chartreuse shrub below the sage. I like the blue, red and chartreuse combination. Again, serendipity. I thought the bee balm was the Blue Stocking variety. It was mis-labeled. I rarely buy red.

Now I'm going to take you to the Michigan Upper Peninsula where it's still Spring on June 14th: cool and serene. Thanks for sharing this Julie. What a wonderful place. Lilacs, indigo and even a tiger swallowtail. He's on the lilac. If you can, enlarge the photo. We forget just how beautiful Spring is. 7 25 2017- This is in Antrim County, MI. Its' not as far north as the Upper Peninsula. Please forgive this Southerner's mistake.