We asked a range of plant experts including head gardeners and nursery owners to recommend the best orange plants for the garden. Photography by Jason Ingram.
Orange would not be many people’s first choice of colour to use in the garden, but it’s an extremely useful one. It’s most commonly used in a ‘hot’ or exotic colour scheme, alongside yellow and red. But it can also be used to give a bright pop of colour against blue or purple flowers.
There are many beautiful orange flowers to grow, from witch hazel (Hamamelis) in winter and tulips in spring, but most orange flowers, such as red hot pokers, heleniums, and dahlias really come into their own in summer and autumn.
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There are many shades on the orange spectrum, from apricot and rust to vivid, almost fluorescent orange. We asked head gardeners, including Tom Coward from Gravetye and Tom Brown from West Dean, plant experts including nursery owners Marina Christopher and Hans Kramer and Keith Wiley at Wildside for their recommendations.
The best orange flowers for the garden
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Robert’
Recommended by Tom Brown
This hybrid group of witch hazels is a cross between the showier Hamamelis japonica (the Japanese species) and Hamamelis mollis (the fragrant Chinese witch hazel). ‘Robert’ is a scented cultivar that can come into flower as early as December. Its apricot petals have a subtlety that is even more rewarding when discovered during the winter months. Best placed near to a path so you can easily enjoy the subtle flowers and once the autumn colour has faded, you can remove some of the spent leaves to expose those precious flowers. AGM. Read our expert guide to growing witch hazel.
Height 2.5-4m.
Conditions Moist but well-drained, fertile soil; partial shade.
Hardiness RHS H5, USDA 5a-8b.
Season of interest December – February.
Tulipa ‘Brown Sugar’
Recommended by Tom Coward
Hybrid tulips are a staple for spring colour in the flower garden. Their variety is their greatest charm and by using a mix of cultivars you can achieve a display from late March until the end of May. Most will only give a decent display for a year or two but a handful work well as perennials, performing reliably year after year. This is a particularly lovely Triumph tulip with a gorgeous scent, which we have used in one border at Gravetye for six years, and every spring it looks as good as the last. Best used in mixed borders among herbaceous perennials, its coppery-bronze colour works well with the purple of Tulipa ‘Negrita’. Read our expert guide to growing tulips.
Height and spread 30cm x 10cm.
Conditions Well-drained soil; full sun.
Hardiness RHS H6, USD A 4a-8b†.
Season of interest April.
Digitalis ferruginea
Recommended by Keith Wiley
This is the rusty foxglove that comes from the eastern Mediterranean area. Our own native foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, is lovely in the wilder parts of gardens, but for me it is too bulky in leaf and short-lived for intensive mixed plantings. Not so, the rusty foxglove, especially in gravel gardens or plantings trying to capture a semi-arid ambience where its narrowly upright spires of flowers create metre-high accent points. It is short-lived and does self-seed but the foliage of its seedlings is smaller, neater and more companion-friendly than our native foxglove. AGM. Read our expert guide to growing foxgloves.
Height 90cm-1.2m.
Conditions Well-drained soil; full sun to part shade.
Hardiness RHS H6, USDA 4a-8b.
Season of interest Summer.
Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’
Recommended by Tom Brown
I grow several heleniums but this one stands above all others for sheer flower power. It’s incredibly long-flowering – from July all the way until autumn – beginning life with a strong red and burnt-orange display that rather elegantly fades to a paler orange and yellow colour as it senesces, with the chocolatey brown centres persisting into the winter. This robust formof sneezeweed has the vigour and strength to associate happily with other perennials, grasses and shrubs. AGM.
Height 1-1.5m.
Conditions Reasonably fertile and well-drained soil; full sun.
Hardiness RHS H7, USDA 4a-8b.
Season of interest Early summer to autumn.
Alstroemeria Indian Summer (=’Tesronto’)
Recommended by Tom Brown
Striking blooms make this an excellent cut flower – but pull rather than cut the stems to encourage its generous nature. The bronze foliage also makes it useful as a foil among other shrubs and perennials. Foliage colour is best achieved by siting it in a sun-drenched position, but it needs moist, fertile soil to achieve the best display. Experience has taught me to mulch the plants well during their first winter to insulate the roots and ensure perenniality.
Height 1.5m.
Conditions Fertile, free-draining soil; full sun.
Hardiness RHS H4, USDA 5a-9b.
Season of interest Early summer until the frosts.
Achillea ‘Terracotta’
Recommended by Tom Brown
Achilleas offer tremendous value for money throughout the summer in gardens. This cultivar works incredibly well because as the flower buds open, they turn from an orange, bronze tone to apricot, then yellow through to cream before the flower is ultimately over. We are often encouraged to leave spent flowerheads for winter interest, but I’d keep cutting until the end of the summer as persistent deadheading will perpetuate the performance of this plant for the majority of the growing season.
Height 1-1.5m.
Conditions Fertile but well-drained soil; full sun.
Hardiness RHS H7, USDA 3a-8b.
Season of interest Early summer until first frosts.
Kniphofia rooperi
Recommended by Marina Christopher
This eye-catching poker is one of the last to flower in British gardens. Stout flower stems with conical buds suddenly appear in autumn, growing several centimetres daily as the inflorescence develops. The egg-shaped flowerheads are tightly packed with orange, tubular flowers that open from the base to the topo, fading to yellow as they mature. Beloved by long-tongued bees and other pollinators small enough to squeeze into the slender tubes. In its native South Africa it’s pollinated by sunbirds and butterflies. Read our detailed guide to growing kniphofia.
Height 1-1.5m
Growing conditions Moisture-retentive soil; sun
Hardiness RHS H5, USDA 7a-10b
Season of interest Autumn
Dahlia ‘Gwyneth’
Recommended by Tom Brown
Waterlily types of dahlia make great subjects for cutting and garden display: their long stems provide continuous blooms from summer right through to the first frosts. ‘Gwyneth’ provides a symphony of burnt orange, bronze and yellow tones in its flower, which I find really appealing. I would recommend cutting stems to a strong pair of buds just as they are freshly opening, a technique known as live-heading, to stay on top of your dahlias. This way you’ll improve the flowering performance, ensuring plenty of stems for cutting – and a well-presented garden plant as a result. Read our expert guide to growing dahlias.
Height 1.5m.
Conditions Fertile, well-drained soil; sun.
Hardiness RHS H3, USDA 7a-10b.
Season of interest July until first frosts.
Gladiolus ‘Bimbo’
Recommended by Tom Brown
If you enjoy the increasingly popular trend of combining creams, dusky pinks and apricot hues, then this summer corm will make a great addition to your planting schemes. There is an antique, coppery quality to its tones that really makes it stand out from the crowd. As with most gladioli, you should plant from April onwards, in clumps where the plants are to flower, and staggered planting will give a longer flowering period. To ensure perenniality, lift the corms after the first cold spell and store in a dry, frost-free place until the following growing season. Read more on growing summer bulbs.
Height 1.5-2m.
Conditions Fertile, free-draining soil; full sun.
Hardiness RHS H3, USDA 7a-10b.
Season of interest Mid to late summer.
Tithonia rotundifolia ‘Torch’
Recommended by Tom Brown
Tall, vibrant and blisteringly bright orange flowers appear on this Mexican sunflower as the summer warms up. Grow as an annual and plant in full sun in reasonable garden soil to achieve a strong two metres of growth. Tithonias will keep flowering until the frosts (don’t forget to collect the seed). This is a strong cultivar with consistent dark-orange flowers that are hard to beat in mixed and exotic plantings. They detest the cold, so resist planting them out until June.
Height 1-2m.
Origin Garden origin (species from Mexico and Central America).
Conditions Well-drained, fertile soil; full sun.
Hardiness RHS H2, USDA 9a-11.
Season of interest Midsummer to autumn.
Crocosmia ‘Zeal Giant’
Recommended by Tom Coward
Bred by English plantsman Terry Jones, and introduced in the 1990s, this is a very showy, impressive and tall crocosmia. The orange flowers with darker strips on the lower petals are upward facing on dark, bronzy stems. I especially like the herringbone pattern of the flowers in bud, which are beautiful even before they open. The leaves are quite broad, tall and pleated. We use ours as a single spot of strong orange in our long border. Needs careful staking before the flower buds open so it doesn’t collapse in one of those inevitable summer thunderstorms. Read our expert guide to growing crocosmia.
Height and spread 1.5m x 45cm.
Conditions Moist but well-drained soil; full sun in a sheltered spot.
Hardiness RHS H4, USDA 5a-9b.
Season of interest Flowers July – August, but impressive foliage all season.
Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’
Recommended by Marina Christopher
This delightful yellow daisy with a dark eye, colloquially named brown-eyed Susan, has smaller flowers than most rudbeckias but is tall with an airy, branched growth and multitudes of daisies in late summer. This seed strain, introduced in 2010, has striking dark-red stems and flowers that start off yellowish-orange with the orange and rusty hues deepening as the blooms mature and the temperature decreases. Mixes well with tall grasses, as they fade into their autumn finery, but is short-lived. Read our expert guide to growing rudbeckia.
Height 1.5m.
Growing conditions Moisture-retentive soil, not too dry.
Hardiness RHS H7, USDA 3a-7b.
Season of interest Late summer – autumn.
Phygelius x rectus ‘Jodie Southon’
Recommended by Hans Kramer
I like the flowers of this cultivar – long tubular trumpets in a soft apricot-orange colour, yellow on the inside. Here in the Netherlands they don’t behave as shrubs, dying to the ground every winter, but they are astonishingly hardy. Two years ago, when temperatures fell to -20°C the plant came back and flowered profusely, starting at the end of June. Many cultivars have a stoloniferous habit, which is sometimes annoying, but this cultivar stays fairly compact. We grow it in a flower box against our barn, a constant amid the annuals.
Height 80cm.
Growing conditions Sun, part shade.
Hardiness RHS H5.
Season of interest Summer – autumn.
Leonotis leonorus
Recommended by Tom Brown
Known as lion’s ear, this tender perennial produces whorls of bright-orange flowers at the end of summer, adding an exotic flavour to container plantings and borders. It can be shy to flower when planted in a border, and is best in a container where roots can be restricted and fed with potash to encourage a strong flowering performance. As an insurance policy, I would suggest taking cuttings and overwintering in a frost-free place, although in a sheltered garden you may be fortunate enough to get it through to the following year.
Height 2m.
Conditions Will grow well in most free-draining soils; full sun.
Hardiness RHS H2, USDA 8a-11.
Season of interest Late summer through to early autumn.
Lilium lancifolium var. fortunei
Recommended by Tom Coward
A tall, vigorous and magnificent lily, with striking, orange, pendent flowers speckled with purple dots, hanging from its black stems. It looks spectacular running through the border against
a backdrop of the purple foliage of plants such as Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’. It has also performed well in our meadows, where it appears to compete successfully among quite course grass. It seems to works best in long grass among trees and shrubs in dense clumps and drifts. Easily propagated in late summer from bulbils found in the leaf axis. Read our expert guide to growing lilies.
Height and spread 1.8m x 50cm.
Conditions Moist but free-draining soil; full sun or partial shade.
Hardiness RHS H6, USDA 3a-9b.
Season of interest August – September.
Hedychium coccineum ‘Tara’
Recommended by Tom Coward
This is one of the most reliable, hardy ginger lilies, with dramatic, strap-like, blue-green leaves that appear in June, followed by large, dense racemes of fragrant, exotic-looking, rich-orange flowers. The long, prominent, red stamen that emerges from each flower gives this magnificent inflorescence
an extra layer of fascination. Although it is hardy here at Gravetye, it is best planted in a sheltered, well-drained spot and given a generous mulch in the autumn to protect the crown from cold weather. AGM.
Height and spread 2m x 1.5m.
Conditions Moist but well-drained soil; full sun, in a sheltered spot.
Hardiness RHS H4, USDA 7a-10b.
Season of interest Foliage June – November; flowers September – October.
Chrysanthemum ‘Dixter Orange’
Recommended by Marina Christopher
This seedling was discovered and nurtured by Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter. It is an early flowering, double chrysanthemum providing superb autumnal hues in a mixed herbaceous border or as a specimen for a container. As it is double, the flowers are of little use to insects, providing neither pollen nor nectar, but its colour and presence are enought to make it a cheerful addition to my miscellany of late-summer plants. It works particularly well with Michelmas daisies and shorter grasses. Read our expert guide to growing chysanthemums.
Height 90cm
Growing conditions Good soil, not too dry or too wet
Hardiness RHS H4.
Season of interest Late summer – autumn.