Crossing Grace

While summer's around the corner it seems like we've had quite a head start.  The growing season definitely started early.

We took advantage of that earlier this year at a garden in Sonoma County. Except for shade from a few large maples and one big smoke bush, the front yard gets all day sun.  The smokebush [Cotinus x Grace] is a hybrid of a European smoke bush and American smoke tree.

Its intense reds and scarlets need light greens to calm the color palette.  Wildwood chose the Autumn Joy Sedum, Penstemon Midnight, Agastache Acapulco, and Iris to accomplish this.  The Sedum is a soft pink, the Iris has large green blades and the Penstemon flowers jazz things up!