A Mystery Solved
One of the most illusive color concepts is working with brick. Many homeowners struggle with the perfect palette to complement this popular facade. "With brick, you need to determine its base color," says Bill. "Take red brick--some of it has an underlying yellow base. This makes the brick color go toward orange. Other red brick has a blue cast. You must look for the base color and see if it goes to the orangy side of red, or the blue side," he says.

"If your brick goes toward orange, choose warm-colored flowers such as oranges and yellows. If you have blue-red brick, go toward the blue and blue-violet flower family. It's when you combine the red-orange flowers with the red-blue flowers that you get into visual trouble.

"When you have a brick home, be careful using azaleas as a foundation planting," Bill says. It is difficult to find a blooming shrub that works well with brick. Instead, he suggests planting boxwood or another evergreen as a buffer between the brick and azaleas. "I like azalea color against green. It doesn't compete with the brick, and green makes everything look good," Bill says.