Somehow I had overlooked this thread, or maybe I thought I was watching it....
Anyhow, JoAnn, I somewhat share your dislike of pink and yellow together, but I think you've done a great job of fixing the problem by using plum and purple between the yellow and pink. I say somewhat because my problem with pink and yellow together is when the pink is pastel and the yellow is bright gold- they seem to fight with each other to my eye. But I do appreciate pastel butter yellow with soft pink or bright yellow with hot pink- I think I like seeing a similar saturation of color if they're used together. There is a softness to the yellow of the peony that makes it work with the pink iris to my eye, and the iris has some plum echoing the other plum flowers.
I've had problems getting the color harmony right in a bed where I use a lot of pink, peach, salmon, coral, and melon tones. I want some pops of brighter shades of these colors in the mix. I had Foxtail lilies in the bed that were mixed colors and the white looked great but the deep gold just wasn't working. So I moved what I thought were the gold plants and yep, you guessed it- I moved the white ones and left the gold!
Then the 2nd problem was the "coral" Oriental poppy I planted there and waited 2 years to see it bloom- what a lovely bright scarlet it turned out to be! I've wanted perennial poppies for years and this was my first one to prosper, so I really hated the idea of risking losing it by moving it (I've always heard poppies resent relocation, but have since realized they can be easily moved if done at the right time of year). My plan was to move the clump this summer, but to my surprise part of the clump bloomed coral!
Now I'm okay with the poppies because they kind of echo the reddish-coral trumpet honeysuckle, or at least that's what I keep telling myself LOL. I realized this year that removing perennial poppies from a spot is easier said than done- they tend to keep coming back. I learned this from the color disaster in my bed of reds, gold, and orange where the "red" poppy I planted turned out to be coral. I've dug it up 3 times and it keeps returning- those tap roots must go really deep!
The remaining foxtail lily is no longer an issue because I accidentally chopped it up while planting bulbs this fall.
