I love the soft lavender color and spike with the helenium shapes.

Thanks Jo Ann. I was at Harlow Carr again yesterday, it's one of my favourite gardens run by the Royal Horticultural Society. This particular combination is a real favourite of mine. I'm just going through my photos now so hope to add a few new shots shortly :)

I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

I have a current love of Heleniums and was looking for companion plants.
Do you grow heleniums ?
How does Harlow Carr achieve such a lovely clump ?

I actually don't have a garden myself, I'm in an upstairs apartment with just a few pots at the door. So I really enjoy my visits to open gardens where you can see planting on a really large scale. The main borders at Harlow Carr and nearby Newby Hall have some truly stunning plant combinations.

Heleniums are late summer perennials here in the UK so they often go well with Persicaria, Kniphofia (my favourites), Monarda, Agastache, the smaller flowered Digitalis, Eryngiums, Crocosmia, Sedum, Echinacea, Salvias and ornamental grasses.

I lived in Maine which meant I couldn't grow a lot of things like this but in zone 6 you should be able to do OK.

I think if you can plant them in larger groups, say three or five plants together you achieve a much more impressive display.







Best wishes
Sue

That first photo with blue salvia type plants just takes my breath away.
Thanks for sharing.

These are agastache, something I've not grown myself. Yesterday at Newby Hall they were covered with butterflies!

I wonder if it's Blue Fortune. I have tried several varieties of agastache but none last more than 3 years.
I found a video on You-tube of Harrow Carr. I will look at more of the vids.
Sure wish I had a team of gardeners to keep things here up to snuff.