A Gardener's Whims

I spent a fair bit of time standing in front of this raised bed today, trying to decide what was wrong with it and what I should do about it.

Now, resident-lawnmower-man can't see anything wrong with it, but then again, he will ask me if his pants and shirt match.

The problem is two-fold:
(a) The Campanula persicifolia grew 4 feet tall and looks like isolated towers among its shorter perennial companions in the middle of the bed. The ones snuggling up to the Pacific giant delphiniums look more appropriate.

Then there is a greater problem: (b) Color clash. The Aruncus dioicus (Goatsbeard) and Filipendula vulgaris flowers are cream-colored and the campanula and columbines are pure white. Oh, the crisis of garden color palettes! I think that I prefer the creams, but I am attempting to separate the two while moving tall plants towards the back of the bed.

Here you can see my unnamed rose bush, which appears to be the same type of rose the neighbours have in their yard -- obviously some very hardy type with purplish-pink flowers. In the foreground is the stalwart fuzzy-headed Artemisia l. "Silvermound". I added the cedar bark mulch recently because I can't plant in that area, having to leave space for the Artemisia.

I have a nice group of Digitalis grandiflora now. I think that these yellow flowers are the hardiest of the foxgloves, though not necessarily the showiest.

This is my "shade bed". It is also a catch-all for all the plants whose flowers clash with the pinks and purples in the rest of the yard. Yes, it's a red-flower seclusion area.