I grow many of the plants listed above, but I love the "surprises" that show up in the garden. A couple of years ago, I harvested some California poppies .. of course, they don't transplant well, but I put them into a container and let them do their last gasp to spread seed to continue the species. Their glorious orange/yellow has shown up in places in the garden where nothing else would grow well. The funny thing was that I thought they were spring flowering only. To my surprise, if they get water throughout the season, they repeat bloom all season long with no care on my part. Feverfew is another accidental plant that is providing "sparkle" to the garden with it's white blooms. I have poor soil and when these accidental plants show up in places where other delibertly planned plantings have failed, I always find that they are a special sorce of enjoyment. Yes, I have bulbs and am learning to grow irises and the texture of the garden is always changing. For me, that's the joy of gardening. Smiles, Lyn

Sherry, I do not have a lot of experience with annual plants here in Houston, but I will tell you what has worked well for me. First, is my all time favorite, viola. I usually buy some in colors I like and plant the plants around Halloween. Local garden experts say not to plant transplants before then because it hasn't cooled off enough until then. The transplants are available starting around the beginning of September, and I have successfully put them in a bit earlier than the Halloween date, but then I have a good bit of shade. After the transplants have been in a while (maybe a month) I start getting seedlings appearing in areas where I've planted them in previous years. So the natural reseeding is later than when I set out transplants. Secondly, I like to plant larkspur seed. Again, local wisdom says that the seed needs to be planted in the fall so the plants can overwinter before growing in the spring. I can testify that even very early spring sowing of seeds yields wimpy plants. I usually grow the ones in shades of blue and just sprinkle the seeds where I want them in October or November. Once the seeds sprout, the plants stay small all winter and then grow tall in the spring. These will usually flower through June for me, but are looking a bit sad by then. They often will flop over some by the end of their lifespan. Some natural reseeding will occur, but I do buy more seed every year to insure a large enough number. The last thing I always plant is cynoglossum (aka Chinese forget-me-not). These are not large plants for me in my partial shade. The flowers are a much brighter blue than the larkspur, but like larkspur the individual flower is small. The flowers line the flowering stem, but the stem will branch out. These will need to be protected when it freezes. Mine will usually survive a light frost with a bit of damage. If it is expected to get colder, I will cover the plants either with a towel or pots turned upside down. These will often reseed themselves and I still have some blooming right now, but they definitely prefer the cooler weather. I did try some tall snapdragons this past winter. I did not protect them at all and they survived at least three nights of 22 degrees. I bought the transplants in 4 inch pots. I believe they were the strain called 'Rocket'. I like the taller ones because the flowers snap - if you squeeze the sides they open their jaws (a favorite past time as a child, and something I still do once in a while even now ). They are still blooming right now, although the plants are looking a bit sad in the heat. When the flowering stock is finished blooming, I cut it back and the plant sends up more. Since this is the first year, I do not know if they will self sow. I usually plant some phlox drummondii as well. Like the others, it will also self sow some. There are some nice seed mixes in different color ranges. I still have one lone pink one blooming now, but usually the plants last through June for me. I have one warm season phlox called 'John Fannick'. I only planted it last fall, but it has been blooming well this summer. The flowers are light pink with a darker pink eye. It is a variety that is supposed to do well in Texas, so would probably do well for you as well. I haven't grown them myself, but here in the fall they sell a taller dianthus called 'First Love'. I believe it gets to be about 18" tall. The single flowers start out white and then age to pink, and it is noticeably fragrant. Maybe I'll try it this fall. For the warm season,I did buy a blue porterweed this spring (a 4" pot). It is about 3' tall and vase shaped now. I really like it, but don't know what it will do when winter comes. Also for warm season I grow the Mexican butterfly weed (Asclepias curassavica). It comes back from the roots after the winter. It does seed around some, but the ones that sprout where you don't want them are easily pulled. The Monarch butterfly caterpillars can really decimate these in the summer. There are some times where they are nothing but bare stems. The flower color is quite bright, and I don't have them near my roses. Let me know how the pink one does for you. Kathy

I use a lot of bright yellows in my gardens and those I design for others, because a lot of native plants are very bright yellow. I tend to design in layers of them. Bottom layer could be a low ground cover sedum, then a layer of rudbeckias, a layer of bright yellow coreopsis and a top layer of maximillian sunflowers. Then I work on the "in between". I very much agree with Floras ideas of using contrasting shapes (leaves and flowers) to obtain interest. All the yellow flowers I listed are sort of daisy shapes, so you'd look for things that are not daisy shapes, and leaves that are variegated with gold but not white (trust me on this one, the white looks better with a buttery yellow) - You'd be looking for things to tuck in, in between each "layer" of yellow. I am using Bluestone Perennials as my look up resource (because it is easy, and many of those plants are fairly easily available all sorts of places). With the very low growing sedums as the lowest level, ajuga would be gorgeous, or perhaps a groundcover veronica. The next level, I'd take that blue, but add another color: say take a blue speedwell veronica for the spikey effect, but throw in the Red Velvet yarrow which is a pinky red (so it will go with burgundies too) - these bloom early and would look super with upright sedums such as Autumn Joy. Amsonia is anaother good "middle size" plant and it has a sort of thin, ferny leaf and blue flowers earlier on. Why is it so great? The actual shape of the entire plant is much like a grass and it turns a stunning gold in the fall which will compliment the brown seed heads of the golden flowers just before winter sets on you. Aquilegias can also fit into this area and can be tucked in so many places as they really take up very little room. Think about more of the blues, and there are some reddish ones too such as Bartow Red, clementine red, Ruby Port.... that are on that blue/pinky/red side that will fit in nicely with the gold. So you dislike the burgundy foliage, which is fair enough - that color is coming in with flowers...how about grey foliage? Artimesia can work well, or perhaps you'd just prefer to stick with a dark green, and then some dark green and gold. As for dark green there is Ladies Mantle. The flowers would also compliment the scheme and the huge lovely leaves would be perfect. For a slighty different shape of leaf consider some bearded iris: Safari Sunset would be stunning there.The next level is slightly taller, and native Baptistas will fill that bill so nicely! Gorgeous plants, great dusky bluish green foliage. So you dislike the burgundy foliage, which is fair enough - that color is coming in with flowers...how about grey foliage? Artimesia can work well, or perhaps you'd just prefer to stick with a dark green, and then some dark green and gold. As for dark green there is Ladies Mantle. The flowers would also compliment the scheme and the huge lovely leaves would be perfect. Orange (with burgundy spots) tiger lilies, daylilies and Blackberry lilies could also fill this spot and add a new punch of color. These particular oranges do go well with the burgundy flowers. Next up you'd want some flowers and foliage with even more height. Think about perhaps some nice burgundy flowered hollyhocks, Shenandoah panic grass, or a burning bush which would be that dark green in summer and a fantastic glowing red in the fall (not really burgundy, but blazing red!), Brigela Wigelia has great variegated foliage (with gold and green) and a deep reddish blossom. Want to bring that blue back into the "toppermost" poppermost level? How about setting a nice blue clematis to clamber over some green shrubs? It will be a very bright garden, no doubt about it, but it can work really well. This is often a color scheme I use against a dark sort of burgundyish reddish brick home or dark grey painted homes. It would work well for other backdrops too, and if you do not have a back drop set, I suggest against taller green shrubs to set it all against.

Lovely pictures, all! Wow. I took a suggestion from here a few years ago and added hardy hibiscus to the center of a long daylily bed, and that works well. Another bed has David Austin roses down the center. I may need to move a few daylilies in there to better complement the pastel shades of the roses. I used profusion zinnias, oranges and lemons gaillardia, yellow echinaceas, and zillions of self seeding blue larkspurs in another bed. All beds have daffodils because the daylily foliage hides the withering daff foliage. I've seen beautiful beds with cannas, so I'll do that this year also. Bearded iris did not do well in the beds that were mainly daylilies because the iris can't take shade created by taller daylilies, and daylilies want more summer moisture than iris like. Verbena bonarensis and really tall alliums look good with tall daylilies. Dwarf red barberries give a nice formal touch to the ends of the beds, and the color doesn't clash. Mainly I have to pay attention to watering needs, and watch that I won't be disturbing the companion's roots when I lift and divide dl. I keep my peonies away from daylilies for that reason. I also don't put Russian Sage or catmint in the daylily bed because they get way too big in enriched soil. The deer demolish my elderberries, willows and dogwoods, so I don't plant them with daylilies because I'm afraid they would clean out the whole bed! I like the idea of the David Phlox, so I'll add those this year. I've never grown them in the sun, so that will be an experiment. Cindi