10 Orange Flowers That Will Make Your Garden More Vibrant

Burning Hearts

Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra brightens almost any landscape—even in poor and clay soil—with cheery, two-toned blooms in orange and yellow. "It weaves in really well with other perennials," Currey says. "I love it in a mixed planting. And it has striking, almost burgundy-colored foliage, especially in cooler climates."

• Zones: 3 to 9
• Size: 3 to 4 feet tall x 12 to 18 inches wide
• Growing conditions: full sun; likes well-draining, dry to medium soil, but tolerates a wide range of soils and will tolerate drought

Indian Blanket

Fast-growing Gaillardia pulchella attracts bees, butterflies, and birds, who feed on its seed heads. "It would be great along with the butterfly milkweed," Currey says. "Both like well-drained, rocky, or sandy soils." Consider it along a pathway with a sandy base, where it will thrive and also reseed. 

• Zones: 3 to 10
• Size: 1 to 3 feet tall x 1 to 2 feet wide
• Growing conditions: sun; well-drained soil

Butterfly Weed

Buyers used to pass up Asclepias tuberosa in garden centers when it wasn't in bloom, Currey says. "But once the public realized it was such a pollinator powerhouse, it became popular. Now we can't grow enough," she says.

More to love about this orange milkweed variety: It's easy to grow. And while most people only associate it with monarch butterflies, which need it for egg laying and larvae support, this perennial feeds a wide range of other pollinators, too, including hummingbirds and bees.

• Zones: 3 to 9
• Size: 24 to 48 inches tall x 12 to 24 inches wide
• Growing condition: full sun; excellent drainage

Coneflower "Prairie Glow"

Also known as brown-eyed Susan (not to be confused with black-eyed Susan!), Rudbeckia triloba blooms profusely. "This plant will do well in a lot of different kinds of situations," Currey says. "It'll take dry soils or moist soils, and it's also deer resistant."

And while each orange flower won't live more than four or five years, "Prairie Glow" will reseed on its own. "People get a little shy about short-lived perennials," she says. "But there are some fantastic ones that are well worth having. It's well worth replenishing them or allowing them to reseed."

• Zones: 4 to 8
• Size: 3 to 4 feet tall x 12 to 18 inches wide
• Growing conditions: full sun

Copper Iris

A parent plant to the more familiar Louisiana iris, Iris fulva has been gaining fans outside its original range in the Mississippi River Valley for its ability to thrive in saturated soil. "This is a beautiful iris," Currey says, adding that this late spring orange flower will give you a nice succession of blooms with other perennials that also love wet or moist soils, including New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos), and Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium). 

• Zones: 5 to 9
• Size: 2 to 3 feet tall x 1 to 2 feet wide
• Growing conditions: full sun to part shade; fertile, consistently moist to wet soil

Orange Fringed Orchid

Native to portions of Canada and the Eastern and Southern U.S., Platanthera ciliaris loves peaty bogs and meadows. The orange flower blooms for about a month in late summer, producing clusters of delicate tangerine blossoms with whisker-like lower petals. If you have acidic soil and a boggy site—maybe a pond or stream—it's a fun option to try. "We're not all going to have the site conditions for this one, but it is pretty widespread from Ontario to Florida," says Conley.

• Zones: 4 to 9
• Size: 12 to 36 inches tall x 12 to24 inches wide
• Growing conditions: full to partial sun; peaty, boggy soil (adapts to drier soil as long as soil is damp during flowering)

Red Hot Poker "Pyromania Orange Blaze"

For the juiciest shade of soda-pop orange you've ever seen, check out Kniphofia pyromania. With its soft, grass-like foliage, it would be a good companion to Liriope, with its similar foliage shape and cool, spiky lavender blooms, says Conley.

• Zone: 5 to 9
• Size: 24 to 30 inches tall x 18 to 24 inches wide
• Growing conditions: sun; almost any soil

Tiger Lily

Once a year, from mid- to late summer, hundreds of gorgeous Lilium lancifolium plants bloom along a winding pergola near the Tenant House guest cottage on Martha's estate in Katonah, N.Y. Profuse bloomers, tiger lilies can produce as many as 10 flowers per stem. Conley is a fan of this hardy, exotic-looking perennial, too. "We have one right outside our courtyard at the main entrance to the house that might be our most anticipated flower of the year," he says. 

• Zones: 3 to 9
• Size: 3 to 5 tall x 7 to 8 inches wide
• Growing conditions: full to partial sun; moist, well-draining soil
  

Trumpet Honeysuckle

Birds, bees, and hummingbirds love the coral-orange blooms of honeysuckle Lonireca sempervirens "Magnifica," Conley explains. A native honeysuckle, it can handle pruning but doesn't require it (unlike its invasive cousin, Lonicera Japonica). "If you've got a trellis or an arbor, you can tuck it in with a clematis and they'll cover different colors and blooming times," he says.

• Zones: 4 to 8
• Size: 4 to 7 feet tall x 4 feet wide
• Growing conditions: full sun to light shade; prefers moist, well-draining soil but can handle drought

Turk's Cap Lily

Lilium superbum grows wild in the mountains of North Carolina, a few hours' drive from Currey's home in Durham. "It's very dramatic looking, almost like an Oriental or Asiatic lily, with multiple blooms hanging from upside down," she says. "It's almost like it's not real." In the home garden, Turk's Cap Lily creates an amazing focal point as well as a food source for pollinators.

• Zones: 5 to 8
• Size: 4 to 6 feet tall x 6 to 12 inches wide
• Growing conditions: full sun to part shade; well-draining medium to wet soil