How do we mellow the yellow?

Q: Two years ago, we planted several dwarf gold-thread cypress [Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Golden Mop'] in a new, sunny bed. Most of the other plantings were conifers or other evergreens. Now we have too much bright yellow in our landscape. We want to add perennials in the fall. What colors or foliage could we use to balance or tone down the yellow?

A: Yellow and golden foliage warms up the cloudy, gray days we endure most of the year, but it's true you don't want your garden to look insipidly blond or brightly reflective. The best way to balance the yellow is to add plants with long-lasting foliage in richer, darker colors.

You might try trimming the bed with a combination of coppery-red pheasant's tail grass (Anemanthele lessoniana) and one of the deep-purple euphorbias like 'Black Bird.' Both are tough, drought-tolerant plants with textures that will complement the fine-needled look of your dwarf cypress. Then, to serve as backdrop to all the yellow, add a dark smokebush or two (Cotinus coggygria 'Velvet Cloak' or 'Grace') to complete your composition.

Q: I'm a beginning gardener trying to figure out soaker hoses. I'm trying to water bushes and flowers alongside the lawn without using an overhead sprinkler, but I'm not sure how these are going to work.

A: Soaker hoses are the least expensive, most efficient way to water garden beds and borders, so it's well worth trying to figure out how to use them. These leaky hoses are made of recycled materials and deliver water right to the roots of the plants where it's needed. Watering at ground level keeps water off the foliage, which is a major cause of plant disease. And once you place the soaker hoses correctly, all you need to do is hook them up and pay attention to how long they run.

Choose a soaker hose less than 100 feet long, and remember they work best on fairly level ground. Then snake the hose through your shrubs and flowers, keeping the lines about 12-18 inches apart, with each one an inch or two away from the base of your plants.

If you have a hard time unkinking the hose to lie flat, pick up some metal staple-shaped brads at the hardware store and use them to pin the hose into the soil where you want it to stay put.

Then connect one end of a regular hose to the soaker hose and the other end to a faucet. Start by turning the water on about a quarter turn, and adjust water pressure up until water dribbles out generously but doesn't spray around, which defeats the purpose. Cover soaker hoses with a couple of inches of mulch, but don't bury them in the soil, as you may well need to adjust it in the future, as well as check to make sure it's doing the job.

How often and how long you run soaker hoses depends on what you're watering, sun and shade, and the consistency of your soil. Shrubs may need watering twice a week for half an hour, while vegetables and annuals could well need watering every other day now that the weather has warmed up and the days are so long.

For more detailed advice, you'll find a free handout at many nurseries called "Soaker Hoses: Good for Your Garden, Your Wallet, and Our Environment." It's also available at www.savingwater.org, or request a copy from the Natural Lawn and Garden Hotline, 206-633-0224.

Valerie Easton also writes about Plant Life in Sunday's Pacific Northwest Magazine. Write to her at P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111 or e-mail planttalk@seattletimes.com with your questions. Sorry, no personal replies.