Orange in the Garden

I'm following one of my garden idols, Nancy Ondra's lead, and looking for color in my garden photo archives. She linked her garden blog readers to another blogger, In the Garden, who came up with the idea of curing the winter blues by going through all the colors of the rainbow in your garden.

I thought I'd start with orange, mostly because browsing through my photos I was a little surprised by how much orange I found! Orange can add warmth to space. Orange mimics the light of the sun, and sets the garden ablaze. I find orange also stands out from a distance in the garden, never a bad quality.

I opted to include rusty and apricot-y hues in this post, too, because what other color in the rainbow comes as close to rust and apricot as orange?

Perhaps the first I think of when I think "orange" in the garden is my giant 'Hamari Gold' Dahlia's. My mom sent me the tubers from California, and they produced early and non-stop flowers for me. One woman even stopped her car to take pictures of them in my side yard. I plan on putting them front and center on the new sunny walkway garden this year. I just started them in the basement this week.

Who doesn't love nasturiums? The compact plants, grown from seeds, sat at the feet of the dahlia's above. These are 'Peach Melba.'

Helen's Flower 'Mardi Gras' has a great deep orange color.

I have 'Mardi Gras' mixed with 'Sundowner' echinacea, yellow loosetrife, and a still young plum Citrena.

Even the old 'Magnus' coneflowers I've had in the garden for some time now provide bright orange centers. This butterfly seems pleased!

I grew a packet of "Painted Daisy," expecting something completely different than this, but I love the combo of dark and light orange here:

Another great orange echinacea, 'Tiki Torch' is backed by delphinium in the front yard garden. I plan on giving this plant more room to breathe in a much more visible spot by the front door walkway, too.

The roses with orange in them are some of my favorites. My newest orangish rose is Cinco De Mayo:

The hardiest orange rose I grow is Morden 'Fireglow;' true to it's name, it is insanely difficult to photograph up close, but you can see it from a distance on the left of both of these pictures:

I love the smoky hues of 'Hot Cocoa,' rose too.

This was a chance body bag rose from Walmart, labeled 'Sundowner.' I love the colors, but it lacks disease resistance, and has been slow to catch up the rest of the rescued roses in the same bed. All that said, the new growth is a delightful burgandy hue beside the sunset toned flowers, and I love having coral bells glowing beneath it.

I love all the David Austin roses in my garden, but this tinier flowered 'Christopher Marlowe' holds a special place in my heart. I find it so romantic!

This orange striped with red rose is the unique 'Rusty.'

And we can't talk about orange roses without mentioning the electric orange 'Fragrant Cloud.'
Another smoky colored rose I love is 'O'Rilla,' pictures here in a bud vase, and also in the garden.

The most true orange rose I grow is 'Strike It Rich'.

I'm a sucker for spring bulbs with apricot tones, including this 'Apricot Beauty.'

And my favorite tulip, 'Apricot Impression.'

Last year I tried this Oenothera in sunset hues, and I'm excited to see how it has matured this year.

How about 'Lil' Dino' asiatic lily? Wow, orange, right?

More of the 'Sundowner' echinacea. This was somewhat slow to come along, as I've had it for 3 years and it's still not too large.

Can't tak about orange in my garden without mentioned the 'Scarlet Orange' poppies I stare at all spring!

The leaves of our silver maple emerge with an orange hue in the spring.

I could not resist adding this dark coral 'Royal Sunset' oriental lily to the garden!

Orange foliage is also a plus, including these huechera combinations, including the orange 'Peach Melba' with 'Black Beauty' beside heucherella 'stoplight' in the foreground of lady's mantle, and 'Sum and Substance' hosta.

Love these pastels side by side. Lamb's ear with 'Caramel' heuchera.

My newest orange heuchera, 'Marmalade.'

And my favorite way to bring orange foliage into the garden? Coleus, of course! This plain old early spring cluster of containers would be even more blah without the orange coleus in the rear.

A spring Osteospurmum with smoky plum and gold base topped with orange stripes spiced up my containers for most of the season.

Found this dark coral seed geranium at a street fair in Cedarburg, WI. This winter it lived under the grow lights in the basement, and it's looking good for spring already.

Hope you enjoyed the oranges in the garden! I can't wait to start on the next color, I find this such an awesome way to look at the garden!

Happy Gardening!