Plants in context

Hi all,

Does anyone besides me wish there were more photos of gardens in their "context"-- the surrounding plants, structures, vistas? With people in the picture so you can see the scale and size of the plants? There are so many close-up photos of exquisite flowers as objets d'art. What I'm interested in how the plants all work together-- different heights, colour, shapes, textures.

Here's my specific question. What should I put in front of a row of Amaranthus Tricolor (Josephs Coat)? Although my garden is "funky cottage eclectic" in style, I don't want pure chaos. The point of the Amaranthus is to hide a wooden fence. The plants will be viewed from a fairly close distance. The bed is about 8 feet wide and five feet deep. It gets full sun from noon onwards. I use soaker hoses, so water needs are not a big issue. We're in USDA zone 5b. With the three colors happening at the back, I want something in the middle to complement the color and texture of the amaranthus, and still leave room for some shorter plants at the front.

For the last two years I've grown Nicotiana Sylvestris (6 feet, white flowers, gorgeous fragrance), with pink cleome and verbena bonariensis (mixed) in front, with a front row of white ageratum and allysum. I'm tired of the Nici, and I want something that won't compete with the fragrance of the Mignonettes I'm doing for the first time this year.

My initial thoughts are to repeat the yellow of the Amaranthus, with a plant that has more delicate foliage and flowers.

Any ideas?

The photo shows last year's bed. The Cleome got pretty tall...

There's a lot going on at the top and bottom, but the mid-height flowers are too insignificant to make much of a statement. How about a smaller shrub rose and some lilies? Clematis or some other vines would look nice on the fence and do a better job of hiding it. There's another interesting shrub, dappeled willow, that can be kept cut to whatever height you like and has creamy pink foliage all summer long. I saw a dwarf version (Dwarf Japanene Willow) of what I have at Parks and here is a pic.

I think what you have is fine, it just needs more balance.

Bev, I agree, not enough full garden pics. I love the close-ups of individual flowers but it's nice to see them in context.
Beaker has a good idea with a vine on the fence, Clematis is very nice.
Some annual vines may do well too.
I grew the Amaranthus Tricolor for the first time last season and really liked it. The color does not come until mid season though.
For mid-hight color there may be some taller Coreopsis to match the yellow.
Zinnia and Marigolds might work and attract butterflies to boot.
Here is a pic of my mostly perennial bed. It used to have Butterfly bushes in the background but they were too big so I planted Hardy Hibiscus 'Disco Bell' which turned out to be too short. I always have Cleome popping up.
This bed will look different next season, I just keep playing around in there. You know how it is, gotta tweak it here and there.
Andy P

I don't plant on keeping the Nici, the Cleome or the Ageratum, for the reasons you mention (not enough mid-height, too much tall stuff.

What I want to plant is Amaranthus ("Josephs Coat") as the background plant. This bed is for annuals-- it's my way to have fun changing the garden's "outfits" from year to year. I tried an amaranthus in another part of the garden last year, and it looked so terrific I want to do it in this bed now, massed as a background planting.

I'm trying to decide what to put in front of it as a mid-height annual. The three colors on the Amaranthus will be tricky. Do I pick up the yellow or the red? Or do I use a complete contrast? I could do a analagous color scheme with "Lemon Twist" Cosmos in the middle, with some shorter yellow/rust English Wallflowers at the very front.

Or maybe it would be simpler to do Amaranthus Aurora-- only two colors-- and avoid confusion.

Here is another pic of the same garden with 50 pound Sidekick Sarah standing in. Your Amaranthus is above her head in front of the pink Phlox. It was just starting to show good color in August. On the far right are a bunch of Redskin Dahlias with red flowers. They are a bit tall for that location but it's the only open area I have left, LOL.
Andy P

Bev - I'll ditto Beakers suggestion re the Clematis. It would make a lovely background. If you want to stick with annuals, sweet peas would be pretty there, and if you pick the older strains they smell awesome. A mid-height snapdragon would be a pretty annual for there, also.

Andy - Sarah is a charmer :) She looks a lot like our old dog, KC. She was a brindled pit mix. Wish my glads looked that good!

Stacy