I am experimenting with colour schemes using natives eg a standard Grevillea Grass Fire underplanted with Goodenia ovata. My desire is to develop an Australian garden with borders of both exotic and native plants growing together.

It sounds fantastic, Margery! I do think that there are many exotics that mix in well with natives, particularly South African plants and some Mediterranean plants. Also, Australian rainforest plants mix in well with many of the subtropical plants from Southern and Central America. Deirdre

I could not live without color and your Blog Diedre was an absolute joy. I have seen far too many green gardens of late with just the odd splash of white! The gardens of Sydney need more wonderful gardeners like you. Thank you. Helen

Thanks for your kind feedback, Helen! I think that dreaming up new colour schemes is one of the most enjoyable aspects of gardening. Deirdre

loved this blog. Your colour combinations are great. Am just re-planting a begonia bed,using canes Albo Picta rosea, foliage, green, with white spots and canes Midnite white, with dark foliage - they look good together.

So many colour combinations to enjoy - it is a magic time. One combination I am liking at the moment, is that of bright orange cannas and a huge, blackish/burgundy amaranthus. The cannas form a background from behind the amaranthus, not planted by me. Surprisingly the combination looks spectacular and provides a striking, if unusual, picture. I love the sound of this combination! Deirdre

Fabulous colour combos Deidre. My favourite time of year in the garden, so much colour everywhere with Salvias, Tibouchinas, Plectranthus, Dahlias and much more. Our climate makes the most of this time before the Autumn colours extend the show. So good to have some sunshine as Im getting garden ready for groups. All your colour recommendations are abundant here, they work so well. I particularly love the burgundy foliage of dahlias and Iresine with purple salvias, red and lime. It zings. It's such a wonderful time for gardens here in Sydney. I love dark foliage with those bold colours. I don't think I can ever tire of it. Deirdre

Thank you for this great colour inspiring read Deidre. My odontonema performs beautifully - I love it. It is a great plant. Deirdre

Thank you for your interesting blog. My colour combinations rarely go according to plan. Id never have thought single peach dahlias would look good beside pinky mauve cosmos, but both plants overwhelmed other stuff I planted in colours I thought would be more harmonious, and are now the stars of my front garden. That sounds amazing! Deirdre

Oh Deidre I laughed when I saw the label Senecio species! As a lover of silver and what a friend calls my 'grey matter' I have a great time trying to keep track. The Dusty Millers! And the cinerarias and maritimas, and sneezeweeds! Toss in a couple of Centaurea and all the Artemisias. Also Deidre, you always have something that's new to me. I did not know of a perennial Cleome. Thank you. Re colour: you mention 'easy groupings'. A key, I think, to your success. Relaxed and apparently unplanned. I have never been able to work out the difference between all those silver things! Name changes don't help either! The perennial cleome is good but needs to be propagated from cuttings about every second year as it exhausts itself. Deirdre

Lovely colour combinations - my latest passion is for dark foliage which is not that easy to find, a few of the heucheras and a dark leaf form of elderberry have been my latest finds. Your Colocasia Black Magic combo is great however that plant seems to have gone off nurseries' radar. Yes I love dark foliage too. Plant fashions do change, don't they. That Black Magic was all the rage a few years ago. Deirdre

Thank you for this inspiring blog. I love to paint as well as garden, and in both activities its the colour combinations that I find most exciting. I would love to be able to paint but have no talent; however, I find inspiration in colour combinations I see in paintings. Deirdre