The Three Purples, and Maybe a Little Yellow Too

I was walking by the Sunny Side Perennial Border (a frontyard garden) when I noticed these three purples consisting of the white and purple irises, the lavender woodland phlox, and finally the dark purple of the columbine. At first I wanted to change out the irises due to the intense purple of the irises. I had thought an iris that matched the woodland phlox would be a better fit. But then I looked again and I liked what I saw. Sometimes it pays not to jump the gun. 





The three purple combination is nice enough but then when you add in the 'Carolina Moonlight' baptisia it is like wow, not so bad. The yellow seems to offset the purples a bit. One reason this works is that yellow and purple are opposite of each other on the color wheel, they are contrasting colors so they work well. Another reason the yellow and purples work, at least in my humble opinion, is that all four of the flowers (baptisia, irises, woodland phlox, and columbine) have different flower shapes.





When we look at the two low growing purples we find they work okay. Not only are the colors complementary (both are purples) but the textures of the foliage and surrounding perennials help with tones and differentiation.





Here we see a close up of these oldie but goodie irises. These irises are fabulous by themselves but can be difficult to work with when pairing them in the garden with other perennials. But in my case I am happy with the effect and have decided to leave the purples with a bit of yellow alone....


in the garden....

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there-especially to my dear mother. May she and all the mothers have lots of flowers in their lives on their special day and every day...

in the garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden