IMO, even the white is a bit too jarring. I'd go with blue or lavender (color wheel complements).

Does it have to be an annual?

to make two colors pop ... you use opposites on the color wheel ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=color+wheel&t=ffcm&ia=images&iax=images

the opposite of orange is blue .... of course ... you arent working with exact primary colors ... so you can tweak it a bit ...

you could also work off the taller yellow behind... which would be in the purple range ... so dont limit yourself to the closest color .. there may be a deeper theme .... e.g. the house brick color [maybe not here]... or the green grass ... etc ...

back in the day ... some of the best sports uniforms were under this system .... now days... yuck ... lol ...

ken

Does it have to be an annual?

For sure not 'gg' (as alluded to in the title).

What are you thinking about?

Sorry....skimmed right over that little tidbit :-)

Some perennial possibilities would be low growing hardy geraniums - 'Rozanne' might be a good choice and the tulips will grow right up through it. 'Lawrence Flatman' is another possibility (and I'm sure more but too lazy to look up :-)). Or one of the dwarf catmints, like 'Little Trudy' or 'Little Titch'. And there is always Veronica peduncularis 'Georgia Blue', which is really a groundcover (only 4-6 inches or so) but with a long and repeat bloom season and is evergreen!

If you wanted to go with an annual, I'd stick with petunias for the best selection of blue/lavender/purple coloring and over a long period of time. Lobelia could work but IME, it has a relatively short bloom season then peters out in the heat of the summer.

Re the creeping speedwell: have maintained both 'Georgia Blue' and 'Watersperry Blue' over years. Find the lower 'Watersperry Blue' (it's a bit lighter blue) more compact, as floriferous and with brighter green foliage than 'Georgia Blue'.

Red. Red geraniums or salvias -- the red salvias would offer a vertical, spikey contrast to the rounded form of the rudbeckia.

Good suggestions...thanks as always.

I'd go with blue

How about a mass planting of ageratum? (My only concern is that these low lying plants would take too long to fill in around the 'dying' foliage of all the tulips.) (Anyone know if there are varieties of ageratum that grow taller?)

Red. Red geraniums or salvias -- the red salvias would offer a vertical, spikey contrast

I love geraniums and I love the "spikey" salvias.

Gg48’s petunia suggestion brought a memory-flash of the Blue Wave petunias I grew from seed 15 years or so ago for planting in pots at a long-term care seniors’ residence where I volunteered in the garden. Those petunias had a fabulous dark purple colour and a heavenly scent of cloves that they broadcast in the morning (maybe in the evening too, but I was only there in the mornings so I’m not sure about evening scent....). The colour would work well and, even if you don’t use them in that bed, it might be worth growing some in a pot for your deck area in the backyard.

i bet you could find one of the multicolor lantanas that would tie that all together, I really like the orange red yellow, but you could do the multi versions of yellow and gold. This year mine really bloomed and boomed after 4 weeks of rainy warm weather!

I bet you could find one of the multicolor lantanas that would tie that all together,

You must have seen a recent thread of mine in ANNUALS in which I talked about my desire to use lots more lantanas next season. But "multi-colured" might be too much...colour. Maybe a solid like...white...hmm.

Seeing as how the ‘little goldstars’ are so tough to coordinate with... Have you considered moving them elsewhere? You could replace with something much easier to work with...:)

Or...here are some colour combos for visualisation if prefer to keep them there..

Purple

Red (ish)

Or perhaps some foliage/shorter grasses?

In that scenario, I would keep everything else you have but replace the yellow black-eyed Susans with purple coneflowers.

Thanks for the suggestion but it is the annuals that I can change....not the perennials.

Cool combinations and successions, and what fun to play with annuals!

This year, due to our state fair being canceled, they sold the plants intended for the fair. I ended up with dark, close to chocolate, nicotania which I’ve enjoyed (I don’t know many annuals). That might play well with the dark centers of your rudbeckia one year :)

and what fun to play with annuals!

Exactly!

Thanks for the suggestion and funny you mention nicotiana as this season is my first time planting these cool annuals!

Is this "dark" nicotiana a shorter variety as I have one that is way tall and another that is shorter but quite broad.

And so I wonder if nicotiana might be too large for these compact "Black Eyed Susans".

Right, I understand some nicotiana (thanks) can get tall... mine are only a foot tall though... the fair plants weren’t labeled, their gardener called it a mystery plant sale ( they practically gave them away)

I have a photo somewhere, will post later when my son awakens and reminds me how to do that. It’s a very nice dark color, I’m fond of dark maroon (like queen of the night tulips)

I can’t get over how floriferous those little goldstars are!

I’ve never been a ‘black eyed Susan’ fan, but those little blooming machines are amazing! I like the fact that they are nice and compact and not in your face.

I love the change you made!

I have blue agastache with rudbeckia, but notice that the blue is not strong enough to compete with the orange in bright light conditions. Or maybe it's that you need much more of it? I.e., 5 times as much blue to orange? I also have tall blue ageratum which self seeds reliably in another area. You've given me the idea to try it with the rudbeckia next year. It is taller than yours but maybe could be kept lower with a chlesea chop? The blue is deeper than the agastache, as is the green foliage.

Thinking of sport teams, how about Princeton's orange and black? Black mondo grass? Black cimicifuga? Black nicotiana?

If you want blue -- go with annual salvia.

orange and black?

Black mondo grass?

A very interesting idea!

Black nicotiana?

member snow made the same suggestion....great minds think alike. I am a new convert to these plants just this season but availability will be an issue in May and even into June

Black cimicifuga?

Too large and it would melt in this full sun location.

Black mondo grass?

A nice idea but perhaps rather impractical :-) Only marginally hardy in zone 6, it spreads very slowly and is not an inexpensive item. A quart sized pot at my local nursery runs about $8 US and you would need an awful lot to form any sort of 'ribbon'.......ka-ching!!

Only marginally hardy in zone 6,

I was checking on anecdotal reports re its hardiness before you posted 'gg' and found this post from a few years back re "Black Mondo":

"It is hardy here, near Mount Forest, Ontario, which is probably a U.S. zone 4 and I have found it well and happy in gardens north of me. I have grown it for about 8 years...."

and you would need an awful lot to form any sort of 'ribbon'.......ka-ching!!

Now that is a accurate observation 'gg'!

But if I can get the right perennial in this spot it would pay for itself after a few years given that I grow few annuals from seed.

If you want blue -- go with annual salvia.

A good suggestion for sure and for next year I am also musing using a mass planting of ageratum

I think the annual salvia would look better than the ageratum -- the flower spires would be in contrast to the rounded form of the rudbeckia.

Good to think of this mxk3.

Here's a website with a picture of goldsturm rudbeckia with salvia. Not sure if they are annual salvias or not though.

https://www.gardenia.net/garden/a-captivating-perennial-planting-with-rudbeckia-salvia-verbena-and-antirrhinum

I found an interesting picture with rudbeckia dahlias Etc. To me it's a very different colour combination.

https://mobile.twitter.com/The_RHS/status/1178324309489664000/photo/1

Thank you yeonassky.