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Orange is the colour
seakale
Posts: 142
I want to create an orange bloomed and leaved garden. The bed is bordered by a laurel hedge, and it very sheltered and on the damp side. We have alkerline to normal soil. I think that white and black may look good too. I am thinking roses, heucheras, penstamens (white) dalias, and orange stemmed shrubs.
Has anyone got any ideas out there?
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Posts
Two geums for front of border - Geum borisii and Geum Mai Tai. There are others too but these are two I have and they are orange.
There are some orange crocosmias. Also californian poppy, hemerocallis (day lily) and agastache 'apricot sunrise' immediately come to mind.
There are some wonderful orange geums but not sure if they are happy in damp soil, you would need to check. I also have a great gaillardia called Tizzy (photo below). If you looking for a wonderful orange rose take a look at Lady of Shallot. Also there are some great Heucheras look at Heucheraholic's website.
Calendula officianalis
Some tagetes are orangey red
I think the geums might find it a bit damp but if there's enough sun and you add some grit and compost when planting, they'd be an excellent choice.
Don't know how big the area is, but good old Potentilla (an orange variety) would give you a long flowering period and will be a good backdrop for other things. Some of the dogwoods would give stem colour in winter if you have room.
Many Ligularias have good orangey flowers and like a bit of dampness. They do like a little bit of sun though.
Don't forget bulbs too - if the soil's a bit too moist, you can sink a few pots of tulips into the ground. Loads of good oranges. The early species ones would be ok and there are lots of orange varieties of those.
You'd just have to check if they're ok with alkaline soil though - I've never had anything but neutral to acid soil. The potentilla would certainly be fine.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Tithonia Torch, the Mexican sunflower, but it's an annual in the UK that you will need to grow from seed. It may be too late for this year. The black foliage behind it is an elder, would be lovely if it did have such dramatic foliage.
Red hot poker might work?
I have an orange area in my garden. The theme is lime and orange. I have a cracking small conifer which is lime/orange, some Geum 'totally tangerine', Day Lilies and a (new) Helenium 'Mardi Gras'. The area is quite sunny.
I have seem some lovely Dahlias which have very dark foliage and orange flowers (Bishop's Children?)
(Apologies if pic shows sideways - having a fight with technology...)
Thank you all for your suggestions, I saw the rose Hanky Panky in our local nursery recently. What a name for unusual colouring in a rose. White and orange stripy petals. Not every body's cup of tea tho. Also the Lady Gardener, a shrub rose might be OK. Apricot shades. We have pokers in a gravel bed that is raised to this bed, a sunnier spot than this new area.
I have a blue, yellow and silver bed, and a pink, purple bed. Its great fun sourcing what I will plant
What a great thread. Here are my suggestions! My mum said she wanted orange roses for the front flower bed earlier this year. So I got her two- one called Troika and one called Super Trouper. Troika has a magnificent large flower head and various shades of pinky orange..it was absolutely breathtaking and it's growing strong:
Super Trouper is also gorgeous and the most orange rose I've ever seen - a totally tangerine colour:
Very uplifting to look at those. Also, our orange Asiatic lillies were fab this year. They come up every year bigger and better:
I also have a lynchnis orange zwerg, which I really love. It's been flowering for weeks now, lots of new buds since photo:
Other orange flowers I really want but don't have are the rose Alexander and geum Prinses Juliana.