Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people like lots of toning colours in a limited range - very tasteful. Others like clashes and challenging combinations that create the "WOW" factor. Like decorating a room, it's a matter of choice and what you like. Your suggestions for surrounding the azalea seem good to me - but who am I to judge?

I agree.
Do what 'you' like, Japon, it's 'your' garden and 'you' are the one looking at it every day.

I quite like red & white. For example I bought a St George Tulips pack, which contains red and white tulips which should look nice in the spring.

Also, yellow and blue looks nice (pansies).

Dark or light purple and white also looks nice (panises)

Yellows and oranges (marigolds)

Also various shades of the same or similar colour usually look nice.

These are from my experience, but other plants in the above colour schemes also look nice.

As Louise said it is "your garden", but we are always happy to give you ideas.

I hope this has been helpful to you.

Regards Alex

I agree about its being what you like? I have different colour schemes in different beds. I have several different shades of the same colour and also I bleed colours e.g. from white through pinks to purples.I like white with nearly all my colours, white with yellow, with pink, purples and blues. With Perennials it is (mostly) easy to move a colour/size mistake also the colour is not always true so moving is a must. Have you noticed that Roses are usually in beds of the same colour? Last year I planted a bed of different orange roses and have planted low blue/white flowers amongst them its too early to say weather I will like this. Look around your home and plenty of garden pics you will soon get to recognize what it is you like. Good luck and enjoy.

If you've got some spare time, Japon, nip off to a good garden centre. Have a wander round, gather up various plants and stand them together, checking what colours you like together, and I mean foliage to foliage, flowers to flowers or foliage to flowers. No one minds if you do this - I spent half an hour doing just that trying to find the right shade of pansy to go with some purple leaved heucheras for a window box - surprisingly (well, to me anyway) it turned out to be the dark red with a yellow eye...
Your suggestion of a blue conifer, or a purple leaved Acer, is a good one to go with pink flowers - assuming, that is, that the Acer will actually be in leaf when the Azalea flowers - if its an early one, the Acer might still be leafless.
There's some great combinations you can make, but a lot of it is down to personal taste.That said though, there is one absolute no no - bright yellow with bright pink, absolutely hideous...
I moved things about on my balcony the other day - I've ended up with the lovely, dark blue spires of a Salvia in front of Nandina domestica Firepower, which currently has a distinctly orange look to the leaves rather than just yellowy - I must say, it is a striking combination, very attractive. By accident, lol! But I don't like the dark blue flowers against the dark red leaves of a Canna behind the Nandina...

You can actually get a wheel (I am sure one is available on the web if you do a thorough search) that tells you what looks good together and what looks horrific. It's based on colours that are next to each other and also opposite each other. I think it is actually designed for decorators to find a paint to go with what they have got but, although it's a bit kitsch or even naff, it would give you some idea.

At the same time, my late father, who was a head gardener, used to say about plants that anything will go with anything as long as you like it, nature doesn't make mistakes. I agree with that and I just push plants next to each other on impulse. As long as you have no objection to the shoe-horn method of gardening it works. And the odd clash I get, I just move it.

Some good advice there, Thanks for taking the time to answer.