Garden Photo of the Day

Black & blue isn't always painful

comments (10) July 29th, 2010 in blogs

Michelle Gervais, Senior Editor

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Photo: Michelle Gervais

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Today's photo was taken in the garden of Kristin Green in Bristol, Rhode Island. I was walking around her charming, in-town garden recently when I rounded the far corner of the house and was floored by this combo of dramatic colors, shapes, and textures. Dreamy!

The plants in this combo include:
Butterbur (Petasites japonicus, USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9)
'Ellen's Blue' butterfly bush (Buddleia 'Ellen's Blue', Zones 5-9)
Black Lace™ elderberry (Sambucus nigra 'Eva', Zones 4-7)
Bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla cv., Zones 5-9)

Welcome to the Fine Gardening GARDEN PHOTO OF THE DAY blog! Every weekday we post a new photo of a great garden, a spectacular plant, a stunning plant combination, or any number of other subjects. Think of it as your morning jolt of green.

Sign up to get new posts delivered to your inbox each morning so you'll always remember to take a look, or subscribe to our RSS feed. We look forward to sharing our garden travels with you.

If you think you have a photo that we should share on the Garden Photo of the day, email us. Send hi-res images to mgervais@taunton.com with GPOD in the subject line. We'll only respond if we plan to use your photo.

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Comments (10)

sheilaschultz writes: Some of my fave combos are subtle in color, but high in visual impact... Man, this combination does it for me! Posted: 5:14 pm on July 31st

grizmom3 writes: Nice combination!! Congrats to you!

grizmom3 Posted: 1:44 pm on July 30th

Kris_at_Blithewold writes: Thanks all! And thanks, Michelle for your visit and kind words about my wacky (charming!) garden. It's funny about that buddleia - it never looked as blue to me before I moved it to that spot. It's just like someone with blue eyes wearing turquoise - the hydrangea really brings out its color. Posted: 9:36 pm on July 29th

LaFlor writes: Beautiful dramatic arrangement of plants & flowers. Makes me want to try to put that in my garden. Posted: 9:04 pm on July 29th

arboretum writes: ah, yes, Ellen's Blue.Dan Hinckley introduced that 15? years ago. That was when I bought my first one; brought back from Heronswood. but lost it after a year and subsequently lost it 3 more times up here in z.5 no. of boston. sigh.
I finally realized that I went to college for a reason, and stopped trying.it was the bluest buddleia I had seen, which was why i kept trying. soo lovely. congrats Kristin, you is a lucky girl!
best,
mindy
www.cottonarboretum.com/ Posted: 2:10 pm on July 29th

wwross writes: This is absolutely beautiful. But its not really black. Posted: 11:02 am on July 29th

Garius writes: Very nice combination, but even better is that I now know that butterbur is the name of the great plant growing in my garden! I got it at a plant exchange, but couldn't find it in any of my books. Now I know what conditions it likes, although by pure accident, I seem to have planted it in an ideal location. Thanks for the serendipitous identification. Posted: 8:41 am on July 29th

Deanneart writes: This is really superb Posted: 6:56 am on July 29th

Gdarla writes: What a delightful combination! Posted: 5:56 am on July 29th

wGardens writes: Great combo! Looks like Sambucus is a "must-have"! Thanks for sharing. Posted: 5:47 am on July 29th

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Welcome to the Fine Gardening GARDEN PHOTO OF THE DAY blog!

Every weekday we post a new photo of a great garden, a spectacular plant, a stunning plant combination, or any number of other subjects. Think of it as your morning jolt of green.

Sign up to get new posts delivered to your inbox each morning so you'll always remember to take a look, or subscribe to our RSS feed. We look forward to sharing our garden travels with you.

If you think you have a photo that we should share on the Garden Photo of the day, email us. Send hi-res images to mgervais@taunton.com with GPOD in the subject line. We'll only respond if we plan to use your photo.