Learning to love orange

Back in the 1960s, I loved wearing bright colors like hot pink and orange. I remember I had an orange wool dress with white trim and a dress whose fabric was printed with big orange flowers.

But orange in my garden? I've mostly steered clear of that color other than Asiatic and species lilies. But suddenly I am noticing that I have orange in a number of long-time favorite plants and I seem to be adding more and more of that color. 

Hecherella 'Hopscotch' is a villosa hybrid which means it copes with hot, humid summer weather. i love the fact that it really holds its color all season.

I have Heucheras all over the garden. They've been moved and divided so many times that I can rarely identify them anymore. I believe this one is H. 'Pinot Grigot', planted to echo the Berberis thunbergii 'Admiration' on the far side of the Peony. Most of the orange flowers and foliaged plants are around the Tea House to complement its color.

'Amber Jubilee' Ninebark (Physocarpus) has orangish, bronze new foliage. My shrub would like more sun so its color is not as intense as it might be. The shade has also kept it a size to easily fit into the garden. I am always pruning it for shape and that produces the nice bronze color, though it means I never get flowers.  This is what it looks like at the moment; not quite as bright as when the first leaves appear.

I've been growing Spirea japonica 'Magic Carpet' for years. I love that I can cut it to the ground to keep it the size and shape I want. It also makes great cut foliage for flower arrangements.

I added Hydrangea serrata 'Mountain Madness' this year, specifically for its orange new foliage that fades to yellow through the season. The lace cap flowers are a very delicate peachy pink. I fell in love with it from the moment it arrived from Issima Nursery.

I've been growing Penthorum seloides aka Starfruit at the edge of the pond for years. But I'm not sure if it will survive without its roots actually growing down into the water. There is one small clump remaining after all the re-design work Mark has been doing on the pond edge; we'll see if it stays the course.

I don't think you can garden in the Midwest without growing daylilies. Many people like the really large-flowered varieties. I like the little dwarf types like Hemerocallis 'Petite Sioux'.

Hemerocallis 'Lady Inora' is bigger than 'Petite Sioux' but I believe she still falls into the dwarf category.

I've always wanted to have poppies in the garden. Last year I put in Papever atlanticum, a Spanish poppy that is a very bright orange.

The only orange grouping not near the Tea House is this trio by the red front door. Bowman's Root (left), Berberis thunbergii 'Orange Rocket' and Japanese Blood Grass 'Red Baron' are at their most dramatic peak in the fall rather than the spring.

Comments

[danger garden]

I know a lot of people who have issues with orange in the garden. I (obviously) am not one of them.

[Dee]

Hi Linda, I've come to love certain shades of orange in the garden. The orange foliage of several of your plants attracts me. I do grow Orange Rocket barberry, and I noticed that I love orange against dark purple leaves like my very dark ninebark (I can't remember the name.) I say that more and more these days. Ha! Another thing you mentioned really struck me. Because of our hard freeze that lasted for two solid weeks below zero in February, a lot of really tough plants died all the way to the ground. I love 'Ogon' spirea, and it did that too. So, I chopped it, and now I like it much more than I did before. The daylilies and other plants around it were also happier with more sunshine. ~~Dee

[Kris P]

I love all the touches of orange in your garden. It was never one of my favorite colors in the past but I've a lot of it now, and red too, which I formerly strictly avoided. I wish I could grow more of the colorful Heucheras but, at present, only 'Marmalade' has tolerated our hot, dry conditions.

[Barbara H.]

Isn't it fun to see the changes in our gardens and our perceptions about them? These all look like lovely inhabitants.

[hb]

Your oranges are subtle and beautiful. Orange can really scream. Yours speak in a elegant tone.

There's lot of yellow in my garden, and it must be my least favorite color, but the plants look great, are healthy, thrive...so there they are. Sometimes the plants get to pick, not the gardener, because the plants often know better.