I don't know about you, but my garden always looks better in the spring - and it isn't just the season.

The energy I bring to my garden after the dormancy of winter means that I am choosing and planting things that are in bloom in the spring and early summer -- never thinking that in August, September and October there will be nothing to look at.

I am determined to do better, but I will need some help.

David Salman, chief horticulturist for High Country Gardens, a catalog that features the kind of drought tolerant plants that would do well in the (usually) dry falls of the Mid-Atlantic, is a big fan of pairing perennials with similar bloom times, but shockingly different bloom colors: purple and yellow or orange and lavender.

Here are some of his favorite pairings:

• Solidago sp. Wichita Mountains with Aster
• Solidago ‘Fireworks’ with Salvia pitcheri ‘Grandiflora’
• Agastache ‘Ava’ with Sorghasturm nutans ‘Llano’
• Agastache Desert Sunrise™ with Zauschneria arizonica
• Agastache Desert Sunrise™ with Perovskia atriplicifolia
• Chamaebatiera millifolium with Caryopteris clandonensis
• Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’ with Origanum ‘Rotkugel’
• Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’ with Saponaria lempergii
• Zauschneria garrettii Orange Carpet™ w/ Echinacea purpurea and others