Jim wrote, >Jamie, no one has ever accused me of having impeccably good taste. And as >for "trash", parts of my garden are only a few levels above what is known >locally as "white trash gardening". That presumably is what we know in the West as "barkdust and junipers." As for whether brilliant colors, particularly the purple-pinks, are in good taste, this is not just in the eye of the beholder. Colors look different depending on the brilliance and angle of the sunlight reflecting from them and carrying the color to our eyes, so gardeners in northern and often-cloudy areas may prefer brighter colors than those in high-light regions. I like lots of bright color in spring because it's usually cloudy and dull here at that season, and when the sun does come out, the brights are very cheering. However, I have a rather expansive garden with much greenery in and around it, and a number of gray-leaved shrubs, so it doesn't look like the proverbial "riot of color." Packing a lot of blazing color into a small space is more problematic, though one sees it done, particularly in a certain new style of urban gardening that depends heavily on tropicals and other non-permanent plants -- a style that makes good photos, but to me, it is as unworkable in the long term as a lot of other high fashion. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA