Neal, I received a mail order gift certificate and am thinking of getting this Coreopsis--certainly fits the fire colors theme.
Coreopsis Enchanted Eve

I'm enjoying the discussion on the "mixed beds" ! I wish, sometimes, I wasn't such a "one trick pony", and had a few more plant combo going.........but I'm hard pressed to get the colors 'organized' with just the iris to deal with !

Neal --We are going to get to see many photos of your garden this year? Like Arlyn we have mainly irises as they take enough time I have not worked much on the beds bothered by 'creeping shade'.

Lucy, I plan on sharing lots of pics! I've spent too long allowing eyesores to remain around that have limited share worthy photos, but have been working continuously to tidy this huge yard up.

Debra, that's a great looking Coreopsis! I've been seeing some really nice new cultivars the last couple of years, picked up a couple of interesting looking ones at Lowes last summer from the discount rack. They rebounded and bloomed the rest of the summer and well into fall- hoping they return well this spring! I've seen some that are solid brick red. One I got is straw yellow with a brick red eye zone, the other is soft buff yellow with funky petals, kinda quilled or spooned.

I was intrigued by the petal shape and color pattern combined with the 12" height.

Coreopsis 'Moonbeam took the gardening world by storm when it came out. I would like a red one for my long time in progress 'hot border'. It's in partial shade. ☺ I have a yellow daylily masking the Astilbe 'Fanal'. Should try & get it moved. If destroyed, it would not matter as there are other plants of it in a different bed.

Moonbeam is so pretty, but would only ever last a couple of years in my garden. I have a golden yellow threadleaf type that returns reliably- love that plant!

So Moonbeam is not a reliable perennial? I thought maybe I had killed it. It just sort of petered out. And I have little luck with other coreopsis though I do love them.

I don't know if that's the norm, or if it was just me. I tried them a couple of times though, and both times the 2nd year they returned smaller, then no show the 3rd.

my Moonbeam is struggling here also. I finally dug it and put it in a big pot and it seems to be doing better. I don't know why. If it dies I will not try another one.

I have been lurking on this thread from time to time because the topic is great and I'm secretly hoping to learn something besides just throw stuff together on a whim and move it around later. The eye-candy has been fantastic! Kudos Neil

I've been quiet because I'm really not an iris person, (although I have way too many of them because my BF loves them and has this thing for rescuing them from wherever and bringing them home ) but I am a big fan of Moonbeam!
I just wanted to say that it has always been reliably perennial for me--I had several when I lived in MN. To be fair, I had deep, black gold for top soil there and everything did well. When I moved here (mountains of UT), I put a few in right away because it does bloom forever and who can argue with that? I killed the one that I tried to grow in heavy soggy clay in too much shade. The other two are doing well, good sized 6yr old clumps--the one in full sun on a well drained slope is the most impressive, although the one in some dry clay, mostly shade, until it bakes in the afternoon sun, is a close second. I've two more in some beautifully amended soil--they are doing fine, but they are smaller, more recent acquisitions.

It sounds like you have the right formula for growing them or just the right knack for it, Dirtdorphins. I hope mine continues to grow as it is such a charming plant.

Hi, dirt! If you don't feel like posting much, it would please me to know you are lurking.

Hi Debra!
Well, here's the thing--seems like I'm always lurking somewhere (I do have to go to work and to bed sometimes) and then I get distracted lurking somewhere else and I can never keep up with all my lurking, plus I have a bad habit of saying stupid things when I really should leave the keyboard alone... soooooo, mostly, I try to stealth lurk and behave

Here is a pic of part of the one (down in the right hand corner) with late season crowding

You can't really tell, but that is a slope. The thing up-hill from it is a lavender--looks way better when it's purple, but oh well.
I picked this picture for y'all cuz there is a little dwarf iris in it

There isn't much you can say on the Iris forum that one of us hasn't said at one time or another, and in a public venue, too. Same goes for the Daylily forum. You should read some of what goes on on the Porch Swing and Weather thread over there. And I know you are busy, I am simply happy to think you do lurk around here sometimes.

Oh, gosh, that is looking far lovelier than I could have imagined from the original site photographs. Wonderful composition--a LOT of hard work went into that.

Well this is fun....

It sure is fun! Oh goody, Sherry made a gorgeous color combo!

Great photo of your slope Dirtdorphins! It looks so lush and beautiful!!! Feel free to lurk or to chime in...you are welcome however you choose to participate!!!

Sherry those are beautiful! I am really enjoying all the lovely combinations you guys have been putting together! Eye Candy indeed!!!

Yes, that Slope shot is a beauty, Dirtdorphins..

It's easier putting pictures together than it is a garden!

Dirt, your throwing stuff together on a whim is working very beautifully! I'd say you are very intuitive in your combos and placement, breathtakingly beautiful! Even if you are a reluctant Iris grower, we enjoy your input here I must try Moonbeam again! I've been thinking back, and I believe the last time I tried it was at my previous home and garden, which was lacking sun, and before that was a site with heavy soil and a high water table. My conditions here are much better for sun lovers, and my "Sky Garden" needs them!

Beautiful, Sherry! Like glowing embers and flowing lava! I've been admiring Sun Rose looking at Bluestone, do any of you grow them? They look very charming.