This is somebody else's idea, but I can't find the instigating thread. I think the point was to highlight attractive plant combinations or arrangements. That's what I'm doing here anyway. Here are a few combinations I've noticed in the past week. This is in the "black garden" area at VanDusen Botanical Garden. Featured plants are Oxalis spiralis 'Aureus', Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' (black mondo grass), Coleus, Penstemon digitalis, some Araceae (looks like Colocasia esculenta to me, but I haven't checked it out), and the purple plant on the right. Here is another from VanDusen, still the black garden area. The Oxalis spiralis 'Aureus' is again featured, along with Celosia plumosa and what I have been calling Colocasia esculenta 'Blue Hawaii', but that's not on the garden's database, and several other cultivars are listed, so maybe it has a different name. I really dislike red and yellow together, but the red here is dark enough to be exciting.
This somewhat self-conscious arrangement is at False Creek, one of the boardwalk entrances to Granville Island. I don't know what the pendulous feature plant in the background is. In addition to Nandina and Imperata (Japanese blood grass), there are Berberis thunbergii and Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'. I was less interested in the Euphorbia and Lonicera nitida and whatever the blue flowers are at the far end - that seemed like a separate arrangement.
@wcutler good morning Wendy, I do enjoy seeing other peoples combinations of plants. Everybody seems to have a different idea on how a garden should look and it is this that I like. There are colour wheels to go by, but IMO the most interesting is when a person does their own thing. It may not be what we would do in our own garden, but it is fascinating to see.
Goipod morning, I thought I would add a combination from my garden that does well. It is my Cryptomeria Japonica 'Sekkan Sugi' and Acer palmatum 'Beni Maiko'. I took a photo of my Sekkan Sugi branch in the foreground with the sun shining on it to highlight the contrasts of colours.
Here is a nice arrangement at a condo building on the edge of downtown. I'm really fond of yellow (or lime) with concrete. I guess the Colocasia are the thrilly; dusty miller, Japanese maple, fountain grass and the purple sweet potato vine are the filly; and the lime sweet potato vine is the spilly.
Here's a Park Board planting at English Bay, a block or so from where I live. People like colour, and the Park Board delivers.
