Bridging the Gap between Red and Pink

The amazing amount of rain this year has impacted one of my part sun garden areas in the back yard. The tall red bee balm has flourished and spread. The butterfly bushes are limping along with yellowed leaves and even a black fungus on some limbs. The pink echinaceas seem unfazed.

The spread of the bee balm has created a color dilemma for me. I have a large block of orangey red with medium pink. A small butterfly bush with magenta is planted close by which will help with this color clash. The best color to work with pinks and reds is probably purple. See the opening photo. These are potted plants: berberis, annual verbena and pentas.

Here's the clash.

Stepping back a bit you see the whole effect. Until the butterfly bush blooms there is a glaring gap. The eye is drawn to the red and pink. This photo was taken in late June.

Things are looking better a few days later with the purple color of the Miss Molly butterfly bush showing.

In this photo I have moved the sheep statue to the right of the echinacea to make room for hot pink lipstick sage. The effect will be nice, but maybe too subtle. The flowers are small and it has waves of bloom instead of constant bloom.

I'm hoping that little pops of hot pink will bridge the gap between the mid-pink echinaceas and the orange red of the bee balm. This photo of a lipstick sage is in another part of the garden.

Here's another idea. Move some of the tradescantia pallida (purple plant in the pot) to that area to bring in even more purple. It will have the beautiful purple foliage color all season. The pink plant is Bright Eyes phlox.

When things cool off some, I'll add a photo of the transplanted tradescantia pallida. It's too hot to move it now. A gardener's work is never done!