Orange and Purple for a planting scheme?

We’re loving oranges and purples together right now – to some it may sound a bit garish and not quite their cup of tea but you can get some fantastically striking looks and from some of our more commonly chosen garden flowers too, you don’t have to stray too far into the unknown to get some great effects (see the pictures for proof!).

Here at Blue Daisy we like this colour combination; it’s striking, it’s bold and a little bit out of the ordinary! These colours make you take notice, make you feel like you want to linger and really see how well they work together. Our favourite oranges of the moment are:

• Helenium ‘Waldtraut’
• Knipofia ‘Royal Standard’
• Echinacea ‘Arts Pride’

And our favourite purples to go with the oranges above are:

• Verbena bonariensis
• Geranium ‘magnificum’
• Geum ‘Prinses Juliana’

These plants all look lovely together so if you are going to give this colour scheme a try (or any other combination), do a bit of research before you buy. Ask yourself a few questions, for example what will grow best in your soil? How much space do you have? How long do you want the interest to last for? We also recommend digging your border and working the soil until its ready and then check the plant labels (or consult a good plant book or even Blue Daisy!) for the widths and heights of the mature plants you’ve chosen. It’s best to place the plants, still in their pots, onto the soil to make sure you’re happy with how they look and to check that they’ve got enough room and once that is done …. get planting!

The above plants will give you a fantastic display between June and October and all of the plants used are herbaceous perennials. They will give you a nice display in year one and an even better one in year two when they are more established.
If it is year round interest you want then you’ll need to think of broadening your plant types and incorporating shrubs and/or trees that flower or offer interest at different times of the year and don’t forget to account for height and structure too.
Go on, splash a bit of colour around!