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Luxembourg Gardens, Paris.  15 Sept 2013 The fashionable color combo around the Senate building at  Luxembourg Gardens is red and purple. This is another favorite garden in Paris where I've never seen the same combinations repeated on my many visits over the years. Familiar flowers combined for a unique design. Castor bean, dahlias, petunias and geraniums dominate. Panoramic view of public section of the gardens. Pink (begonias and anemones) and blue plumbago towers (corners) are introduced. I like the use of purple fountain grass and purple spires of salvia. Add caption I'm inspired by the spires of salvia. Love this look. On a smaller scale, this would look great in a cottage garden. The color coordination of my scarf with the garden was purely coincidental. Words and photos by Freda Cameron , Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel .  All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies ...

There's much to enjoy (and learn) from reviewing garden photos. Here are a few of my favorites from 2011 that I love for the colors. Some photos were taken near while others far away. Click the photos to view in a slideshow lightbox. Hemaris thysbe (hummingbird moth) visits the liatris ligulistylus in my meadow garden. Zinnias in my cottage garden. Fiery colors at Dole® Plantation in Hawaii. Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, France. Leopard's Bane in a garden in Paris, France. Pink prevails in my deer resistant meadow garden in June. Rich red monarda 'Jacob Cline' in my east garden. Blue nigella and pink autumn sage in my cottage garden. Battery Park in New York City. In a North Carolina public garden. Bright colors in my meadow garden. Stipa (grass) and spirea (shrubs) in my front deer resistant  garden. Ring around my sundial in my cottage garden. Agastache, flax and salvaia in my deer resistant meadow garden. Larkspur and rose campion in my cottage garden. Words and photo...

When gardening gets too hot, it's time to stay indoors and browse flower bulb catalogs. The catalogs begin appearing in my mailbox between July 4 and 14—coincidentally, America's Independence Day through France's Bastille Day. Tulips are very popular in the spring gardens of Paris. The Jardin des Plantes, the Jardin des Tuileries and the Jardin du Luxembourg boast proud displays of tulips, often planted with forget-me-not, dusty miller, erigeron, wallflower or primula. Luxembourg Gardens, Paris France, April 2011: Tulip, primula, dusty miller, erigeron and forget-me-not. Tulips just beginning to bloom in April at the Tuileries, located between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. The group planting at Luxembourg is so inspirational, but there were no labels for me to identify the tulip varieties. The Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) and the Jardin des Tuileries are large parks, typically used for outings, strolling and enjoying the outdoors. The Jardin du Luxembour...

Villain or hero? Is it possible for a simple silver plant to serve as a perfect foil—a contrast to highlight the finer points of primary plants in the garden? We pick up the story, Silver Foliage—A Perfect Foil for Purple , where I left it in June 2010. The silver-haired character of this story is Dusty Miller. Dusty Miller cools off his hot orange and yellow companions. Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild gardens, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France. May 2008 Dusty Miller has more aliases than a secret agent. He registers under many names— Senecio cineraria, Senecio candicans, Ceneraria maritima, Centaurea maritima —so you must look carefully at his photo identification to make sure no other seedy characters are impersonating Dusty. An annual visitor to many regions of the world, Dusty puts down permanent roots to establish himself at his many homes in zones 8a-10b. Dusty's short stature of 6-12 inches allows him to travel incognito among the throngs until the time he chooses to shine his brig...