Orange trees wont fruit in the open in the UK but you can still find the colour in flowers and plant combinations.

Orange was the colour of the 1970’s but gardens seemed to reject this colour as too gaudy and fit only for psychedelic record sleeves. Times have now changed and hot borders are fashionable with an exciting choice of plants including those from the Poppy family. Oriental poppies are big and blousy whilst the strong orange of Californian poppy on frail foliage can be startling.

Orange can be a hard colour to place but a strong purple leaf like Cotinus Royal Purple will offer a good contrast. However Geum Borisii will provide perennial blooms in any location without a backdrop. Acer palmatum Osakazuki is the autumnal orange leafed small tree variety to go for, underplanted with orange lilies Jet Fire, Orange Pixie or Tigrinum maybe.

Roses have a variety of orange colour schemes, choose from creamy pale Just Joey, floribunda Anne Harkness, clear toned Geraldine, apricot Pensioners’ Voice and patio rose Sweet Magic.

Canna lilies in pots with purple leaves and orange flowers can be titally stunning like Triomphe, Wyoming or Delibab varieties and for a Gladioli try Topaz or the reddish Hunting Song. Also amongst summer tubers you can do worse than give space to some Dahlias like Bishop of Oxford and Catherine Deneuve with dark foliage or the decorative Mrs Eileen.

Tip Winter is a good season to dream of those hot psychedelic orange colours and plan where to grow the plants that will catch everyone’s eye next summer.

Yellow and red make orange in some colour schemes.