While I admire the self-control required by gardeners who stick to a limited color scheme, I will never be one of them. Life is short, my garden is too small, and there is no way I am going to deprive myself of any flower in the rainbow. My garden started with lots of purple (my favorite), pink, and yellow. After awhile, I decided it needed some refreshing punches of white. And then I searched for a few exciting (and more rare to find) pops of red and orange. Red from plants like Red Valerian, “Fire Star” Dianthus, “Colrain Red” Monarda, and a Red Pincushion Plant called “Mars Midget.” I recently bought a Red Volcano Phlox, too. Orange by way of various coneflowers, Butterfly Weed (shown in the photo), and the adorable Orange Pixie Lily. I have even mixed in plants with silver leaves just fine. There is no such thing, in my eyes, as plants that don’t match. A rainbow matches everything!
Color scheme? What color scheme?
May 7, 2010 by Cait
Cait's Garden 
My garden is constantly changing color. Right now is it’s blue season–forget-me-nots, mountain bluet and columbine soon to be joined by lavender clematis and Siberian iris.
Thanks for sharing the picture of the butterfly weed. I spent all last summer searching for a specimen for my garden but never found one. Except along the bike path and I wasn’t brave enough to dig it up.
Butterfly weed is becoming a little easier to find at garden centers. I usually see it at nurseries (even at Home Depot) in July. It’s part of the whole “native plant” movement. But I’ve never seen it anywhere earlier than July. I’ll let you know when I spot some.