Arlene, you just raised a great point...as I have been raising my awareness of colors in the garden, I came to the conclusion that patterns, more often than colors, may clash in a garden--too many differently variegated plants, for example. Like plaid and polka dots, if you will. Actually I have been paying a lot of attention to foliage in general in the last few years. The foliage also defines the shape and size of the plant too, which is also very important in the garden composition. While flowers are the attention-getters they are fleeting, and the foliage is there before, during and after bloom time. I am far more likely to relocate a plant because I don't like the foliage in that spot, than because of the flower color. And it becomes even more important as I age and want to reduce the amount of maintenance required by replacing some blooming plants with shrubs and so forth.
