I hold a special place in my heart for orange, because it’s one of the school colors of the University of Illinois. I challenge anyone who is regularly exposed to brilliant construction-orange over several years to not develop a special appreciation for this often overlooked color in gardens.
Here are my orange plant picks that I’ll grow in my rainbow garden this year!
Zinnia
Zinnias come in nearly every color of the rainbow, except blue. I love them because they’re easy to grow from seeds and continue to look fabulous during the hottest days of summer. I recommend them for any new gardener or for a child’s first garden project.
Zinnias are a superb cut flower. Their colorful blooms are cheerful, and they last days and days in a vase. The orange zinnias in my garden are part of a mix named Hot Crayon Colors.
Note: Zinnias are also great for attracting butterflies to your garden. Plus, zinnia flowers support our chief pollinators, bees. If you want to attract butterflies or bees, then choose a tall, single-bloom type zinnia (at least two and a half feet tall).
Nasturtium
If you grow nasturtium you’re getting a two-for-one deal, because they are beautiful and edible. Wash and scatter the flower petals or leaves in your salads to add some unexpected color and a peppery flavor. Nasturtiums come in red, orange, yellow and creamy white colors, but my pick to grow this year is ‘Creamsicle’.
Tip: I like to buy a package of seeds and tuck them into bare spots in the garden, as well as pots and hanging baskets. Planting the same flowers here-and-there in your containers and flower beds is an easy way to repeat a color and reinforce the idea that you’re in-the-know about home and garden decorating.
Once again, these are a good choice for a person who is planting seeds for the first time. As seed size goes, these are quite large and easier to handle than most other seeds. Tiny seeds are tougher to pick up and space apart, but nasturtiums are about as big as a pea, which helps a newbie gain confidence in planting seeds successfully.
Calendula
I like the color orange so much that I’ll be growing two orange edible plants. I didn’t decide on an orange bell pepper or a carrot though. Rather, I picked another orange flower; it has a nice daisy shape and the petals are edible. I’ll be growing ‘Orange & Lemon Twist’.
Calendulas, sometimes called pot marigolds, are usually orange or yellow. Their vivid flower petals may be used fresh in salads or dried and used as a replacement for saffron. If you know a good cook, or are a good cook yourself, then you might already know that saffron is a pricy ingredient. I’m not a spectacular cook, but it makes me feel fancy to blend calendula petals with potatoes. I also want to mention that calendula can be used as a natural dye for fabrics.
It’s starting to sink in to me just how colorful the salads in my house are going to be this summer. There are some nutrition experts who recommend we eat as many colors as possible in our daily diet. Do you try to eat a varied “rainbow” diet? What are your favorite orange foods…and I’m not talking cheese crackers! Share them in the comments below.
Next up, I’ll represent yellow, green, blue and indigo/violet in my rainbow garden! Read about my red plant selections here.