Jesus, more stuff about gardening?

Yes. Suck it up.

I like color. I like a lot of colors all at once.  I have no time for pastels.  This is why, when we got our house, I planned very carefully.  It worked like a charm for me.

First:
Remember that if you want a garden, green Will Be The Dominant Color.
There is no escaping this unless you want to grow an all white or an all bronze garden, which can be done and looks STUNNING, particularly the white garden against a modern, Cubist kind of house. Just don't paint your house some stupid-ass color.

Second:
 Don't Paint Your House A Stupid-Ass color.

That goes for the majority of us humans.  A very few of us have a way with color harmonies and can get away with purple houses and cadmium yellow and so forth.  I do not have this kind of color sense.  Most of us do not.  If you paint your house pale titty pink, seafoam green, or baby blue, you've got to live with it.  It will be really difficult to plan a flower garden around those colors because you now have three colors to work with - grass green (yellow and blue make green) and your stupid pastel house color choice.  Say goodbye to the color red in all its shades.  Say goodbye to most of the purples. This leaves more green, yellow, blue, white, orange and pink.  And this can be done acceptably.  I've seen it.  But what I've seen more of  is a seafoam green house with a huge honkin' gross Cherry Red rhododendron out front. NO.

Third:  What I did.
Paint your house a neutral color.  I painted mine a light ash grey with black trim and it looks AWESOME.  I can get away with anything out in the garden.  Similarly most of the subdued tans and browns. You have created the perfect backdrop for your garden, and the world is your colorful oyster!

 So what about white?

Everything you plant will be fighting that Huge White Mass back there.  Reds will read black, and so will most mid to dark blues.  White tends to suck all the life out of color, and even the most saturated will appear pale.   This is the house that will support a huge, flaming red rhododendron with grace and style.  In fact, go nuts with the hard, big, bright, saturated blossoms and leaves in front of a white house. This is the house that you can plant the biggest, blowsiest hydrangea next to without a care.  The advantage of white is that you can Go Big and Go Bright.  And you should.


Fourth:  Use perennials AND annuals in large beds.
Once that perennial stops producing blossoms, there's an absence where there used to be color.  But annuals will keep your garden looking nice and colorful all season long.  Scatter the seeds around and you'll be very happy with the result. (NOTE-do not use a wildflower mix for this.  Wildflower mixes contain a lot of grasses, and once you have them, you'll always have them. Go online and buy flower seed from a good company like Richters. )

Remember, annuals have to put all their eggs into one basket, so they flower repeatedly all season long.  Their sole aim is to make viable seeds. Annuals try harder.
 
Fifth: Black leaved perennials are absolutely essential in a colorful garden.

   They set off the saturated colors and bring out the pastels.  I like heuchera Palace Purple and Silver Frost. Black mondo grass works in dry shade, and Bronze Nepeta "Six Hills Giant" is a strong upright note in full sun, particularly in the late summer. There are dark, dark bronze Japanese Maples that you can let creep along at ankle height, or at least keep trimmed low.  Actaea "Brunette" is another tall note, and likes shade.  Stonecrop "Postmans Pride" will eventually come pure black after a few years of being dark bronze. Another stonecrop, "Purple Emperor" is it's big brother, and flourish in full sun.  There is even a black form of Queen Anne's lace that is absolutely stunning; Anthriscus sylvestris "Ravens Wing". You can leave it as a mound of  leaves, or let it shoot and form the familiar umbrella of white blossoms.  Ajuga "Black Scallop" will creep about and form mats by way of stolons, and give you a nice little spike of blue flowers too. Coleus "Black Prince" is an annual, and pays it's keep.

Let's visit our white house again, and bring our black plants.
 
Remember Go Big? There is where you would use a cotynus "Velvet Cloak", also known as smokebush.  It gets TALL.  Also the bulb colocasia esculenta, aka elephants ear, comes in a pure smoke black, and the leaves are huge. The dahlia "Bishop of Llandalf" has pure black leaves and stems. It gets really tall, and has a really, really red flower. You can do this with a white house!  Similarly, Cannas  have cultivars with black foliage, which usually bear a screaming red flower. Plant a small tree like the Ninebark, physocarpus opulifolius "Diabolo".  Or a big tree, like Brone Maple.