Season of fire

The future’s orange, says Hazel Sillver, as she explains how to fill your garden with orange flowers, berries and foliage to bring autumn to life when the skies are grey

- Hazel Sillver

PLAN ahead by getting orange plants in the ground now to brighten the garden when autumn falls. The colour of pumpkins and bonfires is the best hue to ignite the season. Orange berries, flowers and foliage are cheering under grey skies, and glow in the October sun.

Dahlias can be bought ready-grown from garden centres and will bloom through late summer and autumn. ‘Bishop of Oxford’ has bright-marmalade single flowers and ‘Happy Halloween’ is a double dahlia with orange blooms.

Nectar for bees and butterflies

Other late-season border gems that will continue to flower into autumn include burnt-orange sneezeweeds (Helenium) and red-hot pokers, such as the beautiful ‘Tawny King’, which has mellow ginger-apricot flowerheads. To provide bees and butterflies with late nectar, go for the airy peach-orange hyssop ‘Summer Sunset’ and the pumpkin-orange daisy blooms of the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia).

For something a bit different, try the exotic ginger lily ‘Assam Orange’ – it has spikes of fragrant saffron-colored flowers in summer and autumn, and large, lush leaves. It should be hardy down to -15°C, but in very cold areas it can be grown in a large pot to be overwintered indoors. Likewise, the lion’s tail (Leonotis leonurus), which has whorls of orange flowers in summer and autumn, can be enjoyed in a container that is brought into a conservatory or greenhouse when the frosts hit.

Bronze and amber tints