Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Orange You Glad?

Orange is the color in my garden now. This bright, vibrant hue screams “Ready or not, here comes summer!” All of these plants do well in my sunny, xeric garden.

Above: Bearded iris, Iris germanica


Atlantic poppy, Papaver atlanticum
Sun rose, Helianthemum nummularium
Horned poppy, Glaucium flavum

Orange flowers look their most vibrant when paired with blue flowers (complementary colors opposites on the color wheel). Many of the speedwells (Veronica spp.) are in bloom now too, and make wonderful companion plants.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great colors. They must look florescent in person.

Taddie Tales said...

Jocelyn, what lovely flowers your garden has! I've never seen that orange of a sun rose before. What conditions/where in the garden? BEAUTIFUL.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers said...

Yep, Jim, these oranges really pop. Maybe it's the altitude (5,200+ feet!)?

Taddie, my gardens are almost all in full sun and my soil is a sandy loam --- sandy being the operative word. I live at a high altitude where wind is common as are extreme temperature fluctuations (yesterday's high was 30 degrees colder than the previous day's.) Gardening is challenging but fun, and I find that drought tolerant plants are the most adaptable.

Aiyana said...

Very nice. Orange and yellow are predominant in desert gardens, so I naturally lean toward bright and sunny colors, but I really prefer true blue, which is not common--except for desert bluebells in the spring.
Aiyana