Summer’s lilies always inspire me to experiment with colors, especially vibrant ones. Spring provides us with such lovely pastels — in the arches of crab apples and globes of magnolias, the fountains of flowering willows, panicles of lilacs and veils of viburnum — all perfectly viewed through spring’s showers, on misty mornings, under a gentle sun. Pastels seem so much safer, as we stitch together carpets of creeping phlox and pulmonaria, forget-me-nots and candy tuft, combining blues and pinks, yellows and whites, lilac and violet and lavender. These are the tones that initially attract us, those of the English gardens and their cloudy skies; but in the summertime, the lilies’ trumpets of orange and gold and red remind us that bright colors belong beneath the bright sun.

Lilies come in so many brilliant colors. We have varieties of copper and rust, scarlet and bittersweet, caramel, coral and brick, yellows the color of lemons and sunshine and canaries, and the oranges of pumpkins, cantaloupes, and carrots. Although they are all splendid, flaring across the front of our house in a riotous strip of color, or spurting in seasonal gardens where they represent the summer months in the same way as daffodils in spring and chrysanthemums in fall, lilies also call for companions. These include subtle contrasts, where their blossoms burst before the dark, foliar backdrops of ninebark and smoke tree, or flamboyant combinations with flowers equally striking.

Crocosmia is one of the most riveting of flowers, its orange-red tubular blossoms climbing branches that arch over stiff blades of leaves. A vigorous grower, it cavorts well with fiery lilies, its interesting foliar form effective with ornamental grasses and along the vertical and horizontal structures of fences. Bee balm is one of a few, rare saturated reds. Their radiant pom-poms are perfect with orange and yellow lilies, especially where they accentuate a red throat. They are essential in energizing a garden comprised of foliar golds and greens. Yarrow “Coronation Gold” also partners well with lilies, its saucers providing a horizontal reprieve, and the brilliant orange centers of echineacea, despite the magenta petals, make it a glorious partner for orange lilies. It also pairs beautifully with rubdeckia, as the two bold flowers share the same shape. Though varieties of rudbeckia have expanded to include such singular colors as the maroon “Cherry Brandy,” and the frilly, yellow and orange layers of “Cherokee Sunset”, the old standard, the dark gold with the chocolate cones, is an unparalleled compliment for lilies and blooms throughout their season.

I confess, most of my gardens contain softer, more familiar vignettes, indigo balloon flowers with an assortment of pink phlox, Japanese painted fern with crimson astilbes, stalks of purple liatrus with paler spires of lavender obedient plant. My favorite, however, is the very definition of vivid, the surprising consequence of a small garden designed for a surplus of carrot-colored lilies and a place for the ornamental grass, calamagrostis. A friend visited with a taller, darker lily, narrow trumpets of brick red, which I included, along with a bunch of the bee balm “Cambridge Scarlet”. I can’t recall the impetus for the lavender astilbes, which sculpt the garden’s rim, but the result is a summer explosion of color, where the lilies form a ruffle throughout, sparked with the bee balm, and where a few clumps of echineacea, with its purple petals and orange cones, bridge the lilies’ trumpets and the astilbe plumes, their color echoed in the “feather reed grass”, which constitutes the garden’s spine and has a pale purple tinge in its wheat-like tassels.

Lilies and their companions are not the only sources of vibrancy in the summer garden. Earlier in the season, lychnis coronaria, commonly known as “rose campion” or “mullein pink”, rivets our attention. Brilliant magenta blossoms rise on silvery stalks over silvery basal foliage; the color would be considered brash if not for the softening effect of its velvety leaves. It is always a sensation, and always benefits from the subduing partnerships of softer pinks like cranesbills, astilbes, and filipendulas, all of which bloom simultaneously.

Earlier still, lady’s mantle enlivens the landscape. Arguably the best of perennials, I include it in nearly every garden, its pale green, felt-like, scalloped foliage holding water droplets like pearls, attracts attention even prior to the emergence of its flowers, clouds of chartreuse frothing at the gardens’ edges. Though its color is as strident as the brashest red, it blends well with nearly everything, a pleasing companion at the feet of deep purple clematis, stalks of yellow star flower, effervescent clumps of lavender cat mint, but my favorite is the one that combines these three vibrant plants: a few lady’s mantles flanked by a couple of plumes of crimson astilbe, and a single stalk of the electric violet salvia “May Night”.

Annuals also provide an assortment of colors to invigorate summer gardens. Red and white geraniums are frequently placed among green foliage, calling attention to themselves from across an expanse of lawn like none other. Similarly, baskets of brilliant fuchsia are suspended from front porches to spruce up the foundation shrubbery. Sunflowers enliven fences, walls, and the vegetable garden, and cosmos, with a variety of vibrant flowers on wiry stems, grows along with the perennials in the garden. On a smaller scale, coleus offers an assortment of arresting hues, from “Lime Time” to “Tabasco”, particularly stunning when planted together in an urn.

Toward summer’s end, dahlias hold the spotlight in every garden they grace with their remarkable stature and colors. Related to daisies and chrysanthemums, they are not as hardy and care-free as their cousins, requiring gentle removal in the fall, a frost-free environment for overwintering, and replanting in early spring. They are, however, well-worth the effort. Rising to one foot, or seven, with blossoms resembling buttons or dinner plates, of rays, spikes or pom-poms in the most delicious of colors from fiery, tropical and pastel palettes, dahlias are among the most captivating of flowers.

Dayna McDermott