Pacific Northwest Gardening: Plant Combinations, 1 by

wrote:
I'm in line waiting for A) more information about your soil, sun, etc What zone are you in? Your zone isn't showing up underneath your name.
B) photos of your place! especially the areas where you want to create gardens. I LOVE plant combinations! And trying new ones!

Can't go wrong with Christopher Lloyd. He is greatly missed as one of the world's greatest plantsmen.

I agree with Katye that combining shrubs, trees and perennials can be quite satisfying, especially combining evergreen varieties with deciduous ones. Here is a photo of one of my favorite 'spring' beds combining two old red rhododendrons, pruned up and opened up at the crown to let light and air through, with a deciduous azalea that blooms at the same time. You can barely see a deep purple lilac behind the rhody. At first I thought having this lilac there was 'too much' color, but then I realized that after a dull and dreary winter I rather enjoyed the intense purple and red together. After the flowers fade from these shrubs, they provide a nice green backdrop for the summer bloomers in this bed.