Orange: The New Pink

Orange: The New Pink That Was the New Black

By Phyllis Warman, Phyllis Warman Landscape Design
Phyllis Warman, an award-winning Landscape Designer, lives in Kirkland and is considering repainting her green truck orange. www.PhyllisWarman.com.

How is it the color I once despised in my garden as much as my closet has become my favorite in both places? And, I suppose, if you consider Tangerine and Amber just shades of the same, then the walls of my bathroom and tile in my kitchen is only further testimony that the once-elusive Orange now colors my world.

How could I resist?

What other color can behave so tropically seductive, so boldly exotic, through spring and summer then later that fall come back to romance us with its smoldering, rich warm glow. Orange is truly wicked!

Back when I was a new homeowner, like so many virgin gardeners, I played it safe, always reaching for the White-, Blush Pink- and Blue-flowering plants at the nursery. At some point I tried to cheer the place up with Yellow, and then was briefly courted by Red. Back then, provocative for me would have meant a flashy hot Fuchsia. Like so many others, I later dappled in plants of the variegated persuasion. This is how Chartreuse first found its way into my garden. Somehow I managed to resist those plants deliciously described as Chocolate, but only because my garden was growing full.

Then one Halloween season, I had the bright idea of dressing up my front garden in Orange. So, I brought loads of Orange pansies (Viola sp.) home from the nursery where I worked at the time. I littered the porch and front steps with mounding containers of them. I stuffed bundles of Orange pansies in the bare spots left by my summer perennials. I had more pumpkins than my family could possibly carve that year so I filled them with more orange as well as a few Black pansies. Not that I was a pansy fan, but besides Black, Orange was the only Halloween color I could think of and pansies the only Orange flower available in late October.

The idea, of course, was to decorate for the holiday. I wanted something more than your average graveyard scene, flying ghosts or hanging bloody limbs. The point—I’m not afraid to admit—was to dazzle the trick-or-treaters and impress the neighbors with a charming, more creative view.

It was nearly dark when I stood up, having finally planted the last of my seemingly endless supply of pansies. And, as usual for late October, it had begun to rain. It was cold, late and I now found myself cursing Halloween as those plucky, sunny-faced little flowers seem to choke the holiday spirit right out of me. I was tired, my back ached and my hands were numb.

But before heading indoors, I stepped back instead to admire my handiwork. And as I looked around under that threatening dark sky and through that menacing wet haze, I realized my garden was glowing. I could practically feel its radiance rise up from the ground. All around me the landscape had transformed and was now ablaze in that one enchanting, luminous color. And there I was, standing in the rain, totally transfixed and completely spellbound by Orange.

Squeezing Orange into Your Garden
The easiest way to test drive Orange in your garden this fall season is with Pansies. Look for enticing hybrids like ‘Mariposa Orange,’ ‘Karma Fire’ and ‘Icicle Clear Orange.’ Orange flowering bulbs you can plant now for their spring performance include ‘Jetfire’ Daffodil, ‘Orange Emperor,’ and ‘Orange Cassini’ Tulips.

FALL-WINTER
Celastrus scandens (American Bittersweet)—orange berries
Hamamelis ‘Jelena’ or ‘Diane’ (Witch Hazel)
Ilex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’ (Winterberry Holly)—orange berries
Pyracantha coccinea ‘Orange’ and ‘Gnome’ (Firethorn)—orange berries

SPRING-SUMMER
Agastache ‘Apricot Sunrise’ and ‘Tangerine Dreams’ (Hummingbird Mint)
Berberis darwinii (Darwin Barberry)
Campsis radicans ‘Madame Galen’ (Orange Trumpet Vine)
Campsis x tagliabuana ‘Indian Summer’ (Trumpet Vine)
Canna ‘Wyoming’
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’ (Night Scented Jasmine)
Crocosmia ‘Emberglow’
Echinacea purpurea ‘Sundown’ and ‘Orange Meadowbrite’ (Coneflower)
Euphorbia ‘Fireglow’
Geum species
Hemerocallis fulva (Orange Daylily)
Heuchera ‘Crème Brulee,’ ‘Georgia Peach,’ ‘Marmalade,’ ‘Peach Flambe,’ and ‘Peach Melba’ –orange foliage
Kniphofia uvaria (Red Hot Poker)
Lewisia species (Bitterroot)
Papaver orientale (Oriental Poppy)
Potentilla fruticosa ‘Sunset’ or ‘Hopleys Orange’ (Bush Cinquefoil )
Primula species (Primrose)
Rhododendron or Azaleas species (www.rhododendron.org). (My favorite is the early spring blooming Deciduous Azalea ‘Mandarin Lights’)—orange flowers