It took 4 hours to rake those rocks to the edge and clear out clumps of grass in just this one bed.  Erica carnea 'December Red' is bottom left.  The gold is Erica x griffithsii 'Valerie Griffiths'.  The bronze green foliage to the far right is Erica carnea 'Vivellii'.  You can see the bottom bed by the gate that will need to be raked, weeded and planted. 

Now, wasn't that worth waiting for?  The gold in the center is 'Valerie Griffiths'.  It is hard to miss!  This is from July, 2007.

A lot of thought is given to both foliage and flower colors.  Great foliage combinations can lead to the same flower colors in shades of lavender and mauve.  Most orange, red and silver plants have those flower colors.  The bright spring tipped cultivars which have new growth colors of orange, red and pink are also lavender, mauve to lilac pink in flower colors. 

This photo shows two more beds to prepare and plant.  The big rock was dragged to this spot with the tractor where it was found at the bottom of the hill.  The native Cassiope and Phyllodoce  will be located here in the shade of the rock.  The large pots in the pathway are Calluna vulgaris 'Lambstails'.  I had a change of plans and will use these elsewhere.