**Color is in the eye of the beholder. What is harsh, or not harsh, to me, may be the reverse to another. Same with what is 'harmonious'. That's what makes gardens so different and so fun. I have a friend who is a fibre artist and works with color constantly. She prefers a garden with only whites, creams and blushes (I hesitate to say pale pale apricot). I have one area in my garden that was planted that way and personally I found it rather uninteresting, color-wise. Color theory is just that. Theory. The reality is a different reality to each person. >Sorry, Judy, but I have to disagree on a couple of points. Please >note that the high elevation sunlight of the continental western US >creates much different effects than are seen on the coasts, or in >locations where water vapor waters down color. > >As I design gardens for myself and for others I've played with some >color combinations that might be considered unusual. Contrary to >Judy's statement that "A border entirely of equal amounts of true >blue and saturated orange is harsh," I've found that a border of >lavender, purple, bluish lavender mixed with bright yellow and >orange is together. I'm still playing with this border, but one >successful example is Scutellaria baicalensis with Happlopappus >croceus, two perennials with brightly-colored flowers and a >combination of which I have slides for a talk on use of native >plants in the garden. > >Again, contrary to Judy's statement "Colors next to each other on >the color wheel relate harmoniously," I've found them to clash >horribly! For instance, red on the orange side clashes horribly with >red on the bluish side (e.g., Penstemon cardinalis and Penstemon >pinifolius), as does yellow on the golden side with yellow on the >golden side with true, buttercup, or sulfur yellow (e.g., Coreopsis >grandiflorus 'Sunray' and Achillea x 'Moonshine') On the other hand, >if I keep flowers in the range of golden yellow, orange, and scarlet >red, the resulting 'hot' border is spectacular. -- susan, who is..... owned by Jasper & Schubert the Standard Poodles, Gracie the Rhodesian, Pup-Quiz the Basenji and their Basenji brother, Jones.... on the North Coast of CA, USA susanann@sbcglobal.net, copyright 2004