Garden designer friends tell me that their clients frequently say they don’t want orange in their gardens.
Orange is the colour of the sun!!!! (I think? Best not to look right at it to find out?
And sometimes no yellow, either – but that’s hard to imagine with spring, which is when yellow zips out. Or is the ultimate sophistication to do spring in your garden in taupe?
Probably – it’s absolutely the fashion.
There is apparently a growing fashion for ‘sad beige’ for homes, clothes and even children’s toys. What do the kiddies think of that?
And garden fashion? Brown plants are definitely the thing. Brown. So says the Telegraph:
Brown flowers are this year’s hottest gardening trend
“Jake Croft, a garden designer and consultant, said more neutrally coloured flowers “will be here to stay for a few years to come. I think this shift to softer tones in planting schemes is reflective of how people want to live their lives now. I think people are looking for a slower pace of life and more balance and I think soft browns and neutral colours give off that cosy, warm, comforting feeling, as opposed to bright, in your face, clashing colours, which are evocative of a faster pace.”
It’s partly down to a paint company: “Sophisticated and lush, yet at the same time an unpretentious classic, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse extends our perceptions of the browns from being humble and grounded to embrace the aspirational and luxe.” (Partly – you have to make allowances for the continual desperate search for copy if you’re a garden writer)
But why would we want ‘sad beige’ gardens?
Do we? Why would people not want orange, the colour of the sun??? Is it, perhaps, an issue of money and ‘class’? From Esquire: “high-end brands use beige because it speaks of something that purple and lime green do not. To us, beige means money. It is the colour of fine car interiors, the colour of five-star hotel lobbies, the colour of fois gras. And despite it being au courant right now, it seems to transcend fashion, too. It is a colour for those privileged few that are concerned only with moneyed ease and a life unbuffered by the changing winds of fashion.”
And many of us will also have observed recently that posh people do their cooking wearing white or grey.
There is something to be said for these sorts of colours, and I’ve said it myself.
There is pleasure in subtlety and winters bring home to us just how much of that subtlety we can miss. This is the time of year to love browns, beiges, taupe, green, washed out colours playing against one another in a kind of dull but beautiful harmony.
But do we want that in summer? And don’t we want a splash of ‘wow’ in spring?
Isn’t that a joy???
And aren’t some of the most exciting tulips orange???
And what about crocosmias?
Are we afraid of getting over excited?
Well, there’s one thing to think about – brown marries very nicely with orange. but don’t look for a photograph as I have no such colour trend in my garden.
Must-haves: crocosmia and orange crocus! I expect orange and yellow flowers are associated with weeds. I’m not that keen myself, but that said, orange and yellow – and white – beautifully brighten a border. I really hope that mocha mousse tulips, crocus, snowdrops, winter flowering jasmine don’t even exist!
They will be breeding them this very minute.
Orange doesn’t meld well with a lot of exterior color these days. That said it can be used in small quantities with complimentary colored plants. Use in a spot not directly in front of an exterior that clashes. There are also many variations & strengths of orange. Variation in size of blooms determines impact as well.
Beige is blah. Didnt even know there was such a thing!
They were breeding them some while back — ‘Dom Pedro’ is a mocha/maroon tulip dating back to 1906 or so, actually goes well with orange.
While beige is subtly beautiful in the winter garden, I love seasonal shades of color in the garden, especially orange, from pastel apricot colored tulips and bold orange quince blossoms in spring, to deep orange tuberous begonias and dahlias in summer, and rust-colored mums in autumn. My favorite roses are peach and copper colored.
Beige is fine for indoor decor and wardrobe staples, but I prefer waves of color in my garden. In some areas of our property multiple shades of green provide enough “color” when there is an interesting combination of leaf shape and texture.
I’m not fond of beige anywhere really. I just love vibrant colours.
The color orange symbolizes emotion, enthusiasm, optimism, and youth. Much better than “blah beige” in the garden. Anne, your lovely cover photo indicates you have an “orange” personality! Of course people with orange personalities may be ornery at times as well…
“Brown plants are definitely the thing. Brown. So says the Telegraph:”
Will brown be next year’s trend in the US?
The Garden Media’s 2025 Garden Trends Report has teal as 2025’s color of the year.
“TEAL:
With a bold, synthetic quality, this color bridges the realms bridges the realms of fantasy and reality, evoking the serene blues of of fantasy and reality, evoking the serene blues of Caribbean waters, the expansive freedom of vast skies, Caribbean waters, the expansive freedom of vast skies, and the immersive depth of virtual spaces. and the immersive depth of virtual spaces.
It aligns with evolving wellness trends, offering a calming effect that is as sophisticated as soothing. Whether applied effect that is as sophisticated as soothing. Whether applied sparingly or used as a bold statement piece, this color sparingly or used as a bold statement piece, this color complements a modern palette that includes shades of blue, complements a modern palette that includes shades of blue, green, brown, orange, and gold, making it a versatile choice green, brown, orange, and gold, making it a versatile choice for any setting.”
Good for the USA!
Well my garden was ahead of the brown trend thanks to the summer long drought.
Not good with color pairing. I was stunned when I saw how gorgeous my orange poppies looked next to the purple iris. That sounded awful til I remembered that colors opposite on the color wheel match. The bright colors I love in the garden don’t translate well to the interior to me. Daffodil yellow walls with grass green carpet? I probably just don’t know how to assorcize..
It’s a serious business!
Orange butterfly milkweed for the win, both aesthetically and for monarchs and other critters!
Agree! Especially combined with various Nepeta species. Both thrive in drier, full sun locations, and attract a multitude of pollinators, but not deer or rabbits.
OK, you lot and your butterflies. Leave us our dull taupe trendy flowers…..
It’s incredibly ugly.
Plus the political association with the life-destroying “FOTUS” puts 48.8% of Americans off.
Sad if a manufactured association kills joy.
TDS is real; it’s sad if it actually makes some eschew orange in the garden. Such a pity.
I agree with your mood, but refuse to let him ruin the beauty of a punch of orange in the garden. Punch. Now there’s a momentary happy image. Angela over at Parkrose Permaculture channel has lately switched to discussing “the Big Cheeto”, too.
Speaking of drab interior colors, I see the color commandos have decreed we decorate in the same “muted, somber tones” I see on All Creatures Great and Small on PBS. Love that show, but the world had just traded a global depression for a global war! Why would I want my living room to echo that feeling? The news is bad, but not that bad…for this minute anyway. Hey Spring, could you PLEASE come early this year?
You’re right about how dull the colours of the 1950s were. I remember the joy of the arrival of plastics – which were full of colour!!
Beige flowers? I love my winter garden and all the shades of dry brown, but after 6-7 months here on the high, dry plains of Wyoming, I’m ready for any other color by spring. I would never plant “black” flowers either. To me, they appear as holes in the greenery.
Yes – spring should come in glory!
I want the colours my pollinators want! I can’t see hummingbirds, bees and butterflies tripping over themselves to get to “pretentiously unpretentious” beige flowers!
We should ask them if they are willing to adjust their tastes, perhaps. You know, to keep up….
❤️
I saw that reference to Pantone’s “color of the year.” All I can say is “good grief!” Although Proven Winners has some plants in that theme: none appealed to me. I love the jumble of a multicolored garden. I’m working on a 4 season border with all the Pantone colors (just kidding)
Well, it would be a challenge!
My home brick is burgundy which works well with rich browns so crazy thing, I keep seed heads of tree peonies and sedums and coneflowers letting the next year’s blossoms of orange, yellow and burgundy grow up with the browns. Fabulous rich show! I also have Mother Lode lime green junipers along the sidewalk. Use all your crayons is my theory.
Yep, when not all tastefully reduced to dull, there are amazing combinations to be had.
I do have a distinct preference for clear bright yellows to saturated orange/brown yellows which mostly has to do with how they blend with abundant coral and deep pinks and purples. We all have a preferred palette. But beige flowers? Ugh. Maybe if I lived where there was no winter.
Yes, hard to imagine what we might wish for in eternal summer.
Neutrals certainly have their place, but I am so sick of the gray tones in homes and shudder to think of those color schemes taking over in the garden. I have to admit that I don’t like orange in my spring and summer garden of pastels, purples, burgundies and green, but in fall the oranges, yellows, golds and purples are a glorious finale to the growing season. Even in summer, I have some orange daylilies (called ditchlilies here) that I mistakenly planted that lend an element of surprise to the borders. Since my efforts to eradicate them have come to naught, I just enjoy their flagrant color and make the best of it. Sort of my approach to life the older I get.
I too have made peace with my “ditch lilies”! They are ubiquitous in my neighborhood, as if a door-to-door salesman made a killing on them when the subdivision went in during the 1940’s. In other parts of North America they call them tiger lilies – a finer name for what is actually a very lovely flower, and as you say, provides a nice color surprise to the border.
The good friend who gave them to me promised me these weren’t orange….pinky swear promised! After they bloomed and made a liar out of her, I tried to dig them all up but their DNA has established itself too deeply, and now the Helene-flooded creek where they were planted on the bank has distributed them down to the French Broad River and maybe all the way to the Gulf of Mexico!
It seems orange may take over the world!!!
I love orange flowers. I had to laugh when I read what Mary Irish, a renowned gardener in the US desert southwest, says about orange, “I find orange a difficult color to use well in a garden. It is garish, demanding, and blends poorly with other colors.” Statements like this don’t help orange’s reputation!
It’s nonsense too. Though I do wonder about that weasel word ‘blend’. I think brown, beige and grey might blend well.
The thing about orange is, it says you’ve gone over the edge. Why back it with green when you can have violet or a flashy blue? This scares people.
I’m all for a scary garden, then!
I was told years ago that because I love lots of color I have a “primitive eye” aesthetically—a bit condescending, that! I’m quite civilized in other ways. What I really love is contrast; the eye-popping edge, the unexpected color against a building or hardscape, a textural bark against a winter landscape and so on. I’m not a huge fan of yellow flowers by themselves, but in the right context, that changes!
Your primitive eye is in fine company, notable artists and musicians have been tagged with that – Gauguin, Picasso and Stravinsky among them. Our gardens are our canvases, our song! I love to paint mine in a riot of colors, and as you note, contrasts. I will take primitive any day over boring.
Excitement! What could be wrong with that??
I love orange, the more the better! Especially with pink. Geum “totally tangerine” is one of my favorites.
That is a great plant.
Yes!!
Treating garden color as an interior decorating palette is just another barnacle of old-way thinking.
That’s not very helpful without some indication of what your old way thinking is and why it fails. There’s plenty of room here for you to say more.
Why get hung up on trends? Garden the way and with the colors that speak to you. After all, it’s YOUR garden! If others don’t like it, they don’t have to look.
This is true. But as a garden writer and garden opener, I possibly have a rather particular perspective?
I stare out the window the entire winter season at my ‘Midwinter Fire’ cornus and it makes me ridiculously happy. I couldn’t go without it when everything else around it (excluding conifers) is brown.
Wonderful winter sight.