Nick Bailey reveals his favourite colour-popping planting combinations
Why not plant up some of my favourite combinations this week?
I’m slightly obsessed with plant pairings and combinations. Some pairings feel perfect thanks to their colour combinations, while others work because of their form or size, but the dream pairings for me are those that work on all these levels – plants that just look be er thanks to the presence of a buddy. Adding a new specimen to an existing planting is easy and the new plant can make all the
difference. Any of these perfect pairings can be slo ed into your garden this week.
Pair 1 Agapanthus with crocosmia
This pair hail from South Africa and a lovelier couple I struggle to imagine. They both (depending on variety flower at around the same height and across the same period from mid-summer onwards. Both prefer full sun and a free-draining soil. Given these conditions they’ll conjure up the most compelling colour pairing – deep blue with rich orange.
Pair 2 Rosa ‘Ballerina’ with hylotelephium (sedum)
This rose or other small-flowered, pink varieties are perfect paired with sedums. The contrast in flower form, scale and colour sets up an exciting dynamic that evolves through the season. The sedum sits for many months with icy-green flower buds and leaves which perfectly complement the pink rose. Then, as the rose begins to slow its flowering, its foliage becomes dominant and the sedum breaks into pre y pink blooms. A season-long pairing.
Pair 3 Nepeta ‘Walker's Low’ with salvia ‘Love and Wishes’
Both these plants bloom for months, with the darker markings in the centre of the pale blue nepeta flowers picking up the purple-pink pigment of the salvia. Rich and dark meets pale and wan in a dramatic but tasteful pairing.
Pair 4 Salvia ‘Amistad’ with Rudbeckia triloba
One of the best salvias around, ‘Amistad’ delivers indigo-purple blooms for months. By pairing it with the rich yellow rudbeckia you set up a dramatic colour pairing known as ‘simultaneous contrast’. In other words the colour of both blooms are more intense as a result of each other.
Pair 5 Achillea with Salvia ‘Caradonna’
Pair the spikey, purple wands of this salvia with the flat plates of any fiery achillea and you’re on to a winner both in terms of contrasting dramatic form and colour. An exciting pair.