I'm not normally the sort of gardener who obsesses over clashing colors in my flower beds. In fact, I'm rather an "anything goes if I like it" sort of person. However, I find myself being challenged by color clashes in my front yard this spring.
Specifically, I have a couple plants that I absolutely adore: downy phlox (Phlox pilosa), a beautiful soft purplish pink bloomer that goes from December through June, and Indian pinks (Spigelia marilandica), a graphically spectacular bloom of bright red with yellow highlights. For better or worse, because I love both of them, I planted both of them in my front flower bed...pretty close to each other.
And they clash. Even to my eye, they clash. (The phlox is on the left, the Indian pinks are on the right, and a Darrow's blueberry is in the middle.)
I guess I figured that one of them wouldn't do so well, leaving just one for me to enjoy, but they fooled me!
Now I have a dilemma. Which should I transplant, if either?
The downy phlox provides great color for months AND it stays low. It blends well with foliage of the Darrow's blueberry subshrubs (Vaccinium darrowii) that are also doing well in that bed and with the spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) and the blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) that bloom spectacularly in the front gardens during the spring.
The Indian pinks bloom for a much shorter period of time than the downy phlox, but I have a special place in my heart for them. I've tried them unsuccessfully in both my Mobile and in my Clearwater, Kansas, gardens, so having them do well here is exciting. Truthfully, I'm a little scared to transplant them and risk watching them wither in a different spot.
The first time I saw Indian pinks was on a garden tour in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they provided a thick, blooming carpet on a shady hillside. I've never forgotten that spectacular sight.
While the Indian pinks clash with the downy phlox (and truthfully with the Darrow's blueberry too), they look great with the native columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) that seems to have found a happy home in my garden where it has started to seed itself about a bit.
So far the columbine hasn't seeded itself close to the downy phlox, but it would clash, too, if they grew in close proximity.
So, fellow gardeners, any thoughts? I won't promise to follow your advice, but I value it nonetheless! Maybe your thoughts will help me clarify my own.....
Showing posts with label Indian pinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian pinks. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 06, 2018
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