The “Garanimals” of Fall Planting Combos

The great Northwest does not normally have the long patches of sunny spring and summer weather that other parts of the country typically have. For instance Tomatoes can be MUCH more challenging here due to the frequent short seasons of heat. But, one thing that we can claim to almost corner the market on is the vast flexibility we have in the number of choices of plants that we CAN grow because our seasons overall, tend to be inherently mild.

From extremely cold hardy and resilient plants that live up high in the cold mountain terrain to tropical showstoppers that come from the deep southern hemisphere. This allows us the terrifically great fortune to be able to put plants together in a combo pot or bed that would not ordinarily “play well together” in other climates.

In this series of photos, I took time to lay out combination’s of plants that I call my “Garanimals” plants or my “Peanut Butter & Jelly” plants. All of them, in basically any of their many respective family’s play well together. To me the options are endless amounts of color directions you can go in for any application. Each of these combos can be tweaked to suit any garden personality: tropical, demure, bold, textural, monochromatic or simple.

Also, note the lack of an emphasis on the floral component of each grouping. Except for the Sedum, flowers are not the focal point of these combination’s. The Sedum could be switched out for a more showy foliage variety too.

My personal preference will usually lean toward a more bold and high contrast, sunset tones. This is just because we live in a frequently gray climate for many months. I hope to put some pictures together soon to illustrate more of those other garden personality types in harmony with the “Garanimals” theory of planting.

I hope you enjoy my wacky sense of color!