Built for sun and summer resilience, this plant combination leans on an evergreen framework and months of bloom. Hebe ‘Western Hills’ brings fine-textured, blue-gray foliage and soft white-to-pink flowers in early summer; Helleborus sternii adds bold, leathery leaves for year-round structure and blooms from late winter into spring; and a front-edge carpet of burgundy Sempervivum ‘Pacific Shadows’ ties it all together with rich color and tidy form.

From summer into fall, a harmonious flower palette keeps the show going: Agastache ‘Rainbow Sorbet’ adds warm, nectar-rich spikes; Echinacea ‘Green Twister’ offers lime-tipped petals around magenta cones; Hemerocallis ‘Black Arrowhead’ punctuates with dramatic, dark burgundy to near-black blooms with a yellow-green throat; and Penstemon ‘Enor’ threads through with violet-blue wands of tubular flowers that hummingbirds love. The interplay of cool blue foliage, burgundy rosettes, and jewel-toned flowers is long-blooming and pollinator-friendly.

Care and site: Full sun and well-drained soil. Drought-tolerant once established, but in hot, dry PNW summers, occasional deep watering keeps the display at its best. After hellebore flowers fade, cut the spent flowering stems to the base to renew fresh evergreen foliage; lightly trim spent blooms on hebe after flowering to maintain a compact form; deadhead and tidy perennials as desired to extend bloom. Most plants are readily available in greater Portland and beyond; if Hemerocallis ‘Black Arrowhead’ is hard to source, select a comparable dark-toned daylily with similar habit and color. Inspired by a vignette from my front yard garden in NE Portland, Oregon (Zone 8b/9a).