I've had it look good with Coreopsis 'Zagreb' and with Caryopteris.

I like any Rudbeckia with them, but this year my BW flowers have already faded and the Rudbeckia is just getting started. I thought last year they flowered at the same time, but maybe i dreamt that or it was the BW's rebloom.

Hi PM2!! I have dark hot pink garden phlox with it. A little Dunkin Donuts logo colors in the garden!! 😂 also have 'buttered popcorn' daylily near one which is much more subtle. Annual salvia in purple would be nice with them.

They do look great with purple, blue, red & yellow. I have them in a couple of spots, one surrounded by Coreopsis 'Sunray' and Geranium Rozanne & Orion with Daylily 'Anzac' nearby.

The other has Tradescantia 'Concord Grape' as a companion. They look wonderful with Eryngium too. Glad yours are putting on a show!

If verbena bonariensis is hardy in your area it would be a great addition as well.

Lots of ideas I wouldn’t have thought of, thanks! The location I have them in is not going to offer room for a shrub, but all the perennial ideas are great. I have never tried Caryopteris but I should consider it in another location. I do have Rudbeckia and it’s just coming into bloom, while the Butterfly weed started about a week to 10 days ago. It is a monster though and on the other side of the garden. I’ve had some annual Rudbeckias that I enjoyed, I could think of doing that.

Thyme, :-) So that is your ‘Dunkin Donuts’ combo. [g]. I was thinking of a daylily. That 'Buttered Popcorn' is a nice deep yellow and I love the name. And I already have purple salvia. Funny though, mine is not in bloom at the same time. It’s already had a first flush and the 2nd flush is probably going to be minor and looks to be a couple of weeks away.

Peren.all, pretty combination too. Very colorful. I like that Coreopsis 'Sunday'. It's not a thread leaf variety, right? I have never grown Tradescantia, but I’ve admired it growing in Sturbridge Village. The ‘Concord grape’ is a nice color too. Do you find that spreads a lot or reseeds a lot?

No, I’ve tried the Verbena and it may have come back a few springs, but one spring it didn’t. I might try it again, I could get a few years out of it.

Thanks!

Coreopsis 'Sunray' is not a threadleaf it is C. lanceolata. It blooms for such a long time and is so floriferous that it will often bloom itself to death after a couple of years. I always let some seed pods develop so that I am never without them.

T. 'Concord Grape' forms a clump and is very well behaved that way. I had it growing for many years without an issue then one year I was lax in deadheading and it did seed about. I have been getting rid of all the seeded in ones so that I only have the true C. G. Generally such a great plant since it will grow in sun or partial shade and has a very long bloom period. One downside- the flowers close at approx. 4 p.m.

I love that plant! I have a repeating pattern in my garden: Butterfly weed, Amsonia hubrectii and Agastache “Blue Boa”. All take a sunny location, little fussing over and are tolerate drought. The butterfly weed emerges very late in the spring for me. Despite growing it for years, I still hover over it every spring thinking it won’t come back. Then once I forget about it with other pressing spring tasks, it pops up!

I used to grow Coreopsis lancelolata and I really enjoyed it. I agree that it has a particularly long bloom season. I've changed my full sun bed so many times, I don't even remember why I changed one plant or the other. I do think I had a wild and loose style for awhile and I felt I wanted more structure. But, I should think of adding that Coreopsis back in.

T. 'Concord Grape' - next time I am changing things up, I'll have to remember that one. The only place I saw it growing was @ Sturbridge Village which is a historical park, where they are recreating an earlier age. So I assumed it is an old fashioned flower that you don't usually see any more. I have a lot of half shade, so that might be a good one for me, and I love a long bloom season! That is one of my pet peeves with garden plants, if they bloom for less than 3 weeks, probably because my garden is so small, every plant has to pull it's weight.

Cercis - thank you for the photo! That's a pretty combo. I like the airy plants that are not blooming, is that Amsonia? Amsonia would be out of bloom by the time the Butterly weed is blooming I guess. I do like the foliage on it. I have 'Blue Ice' which has a different foliage, not airy like that. Looks like a lily in the back too. Very nice!

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/lifestyle/home-and-garden/story/2020-07-13/butterfly-plants-in-short-supply-due-to-pandemic-fueled-gardening-boom

Not surprising Rouge. I haven't really focused on butterfly plants, but I did make the effort to include some of their favorites. I have lots of milkweed and some butterfly weed. I grow parsley specifically for them. I have a Spicebush for another type of butterfly. And they are established and have been in the yard for probably 10 years+ yet I rarely see a butterfly. I usually will see ONE monarch and it's so sad that there isn't a pair.

Yes, the C. l. is a more casual, exuberant plant to be sure. Our tastes certainly change over the years but I call my style an organized riot lol!

Nepeta is a really long blooming plant. I have 'Walkers Low' & 'Six Hills Giant' but there are so many new ones now too in various sizes. The Agastache would be a great one for you. It is just not hardy enough for me for me. Salvia 'Caradonna' blooms all summer and is such a vibrant colour that would also go well.

Too funny cercis, a coast and a country apart but we both have Amsonia hubrichtii with/near the Butterfly weed.

Peren.all, LOVE that photo! I enjoy grasses and have a few Pennisetums in my bed and some Carex buchananii. I know when I first started gardening with perennials, I wanted to have a meadow effect at one point, but I really don’t have enough room to do that. I like the style of Piet Oudolf who designed the Lurie Garden in New York. A similar style.

I think that’s Amsonia on the far left in your photo and I’ve stuck with the ‘Blue Ice’ because that variety you grow is a little too large for my bed. What is the low yellow grower in front of the Butterfly weed? Very nice composition. I think you have the balance between a ‘natural’ look and an organized bed, just right.

That’s funny, I have a grouping of 3 Pennisetum with Gaura, Nepeta Walker’s Low and Perovskias in one corner of my full sun bed, with Cranesbill along the edge. [g]. I just don’t have the Butterfly Weed in that bed, because I have pinks and I don’t like them together. I have BW in another bed that I’m hoping to rearrange and add to in the fall.

I love Agastaches, Salvias and Penstemons. I would love a whole bed of them, but I’ve tried a lot of them over the years and a lot of them are still not hardy here in z6b, and I have heavy soil. They grow for me, but not vigorously and I usually lose them over the winter. There are a few varieties that I’ve kept going. I do like ‘Caradonna’ and I plan on adding that for sure. My geraniums have been fried in the heat, as well as Heucheras.

You’ve had higher temps in Canada then I have had here. I’m counting my lucky stars that so far the heat has been tolerable. A few bad days close to 100, but high 80s, low 90s most of the time. We’ve had relief often enough to get through it. Monday night we had about a 1/2 inch of rain in the night and it cooled down with lower humidity. It was a high of 78 on my back porch all of yesterday and later in the afternoon it dropped to 68. Wow. We had the house fan on last night. But, it is July, so I’m sure we still have plenty of heat to come. But I would have thought you would be cooler in Canada. Such strange weather.

Thank you! I am a fan of grasses from the smallest to the big boys. The one in the centre of the pic is Molina 'Karl Foerster' and soon it will be about 9 ft. tall but it is one of the "see through" grasses.

The yellow is Sedum kamtschaticum. It is such a great plant, really my favorite of the low Sedum. Formal does not suit my surroundings or me so I appreciate that you think I have struck the balance!

Pink and orange are tricky together. I think they can look good if they are in the same tone like Thyme2dig's Dunkin Donuts reference.

There are always those plants that won't do well for us. So frustrating. It is usually zonal for me but regardless of soil or climate some are just not going to do well. I have two Penstemon and would enjoy more but they are challenging here.

Monday was the only day here that was actually a breath of fresh air then back to hot again. It has been oppressive here with all high nineties and super high humidity. We have had too many days that were 109-111 with the humidex. No rain has added to the misery. We had a bit last Saturday but it was like it never happened. It has rained around us but we are scary dry. Not good when you live in the middle of a forest (or anywhere else).

I am glad your heat has been tolerable. That drop to 68 must have been a little shocking! I would have had my woollies on lol!

Speaking of butterflies, we have noticed a significant decrease this year. Last year it was riotuous with butterflies. I wonder if our cold and wet spring was the culprit. It seems that whenever we notice a decline in a creature, I fear the worst.