Types of Orange Flowers - Most popular Orange Flowers, Photos

The flowers

Every orange flower in the library

36 of the 82 flowers here carry this colour, ordered by how much of it the photograph actually shows. The library keeps one picture per flower and most of these come in several colours.

True orange CrocosmiaCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora / Crocosmia 'Lucifer'Summer bloomer

8 photos of Crocosmia

Crocosmia (Crocosmia ‘Emily McKenzie’ and others)

Orange only at the centre LupineLupinus polyphyllus (and Russell hybrids, Lupinus × hybridus)Spring bloomer

Apricot TulipTulipa spp. (incl. Tulipa gesneriana hybrids)Spring bloomer

CalendulaCalendula officinalis

7 photos of Calendula

Bright orange flower against sunset backdrop

Bright orange flower against rustic background

Tiger Lily (Lilium lancifolium

7 photos of Tiger Lily (Lilium lancifolium

Vibrant orange lily with delicate petals

Butterfly WeedAsclepias tuberosa

7 photos of Butterfly Weed

Vibrant orange flower behind white fence

Vibrant orange flowers on marble surface.

Vibrant orange flowers in soft sunlight.

Orange flowers against rainy window backdrop

Vibrant orange tulip against green background

Orange TulipsTulipa

7 photos of Orange Tulips

Single orange tulip against blurred background.

Orange RosesTropicana

7 photos of Orange Roses

Single orange rose against twilight backdrop

Why

Why orange is the colour it is

Orange is usually two pigment systems stacked in the same petal. The base is carotenoid, the same chemistry that colours a carrot, laid down in the plastids. Over it sits a thin wash of anthocyanin, and the amount of that wash decides whether the flower reads apricot, orange or nearly red. A few flowers reach orange by a single route instead, using pelargonidin on its own, and those are the ones that look almost fluorescent in evening light because there is no second pigment muddying the return.

Orange is a quantity problem, not a taste problem

A single orange plant in a pastel border looks like a mistake; a third of the border in orange looks intentional. If orange feels wrong where you have put it, the usual fix is more of it, not less.

The honest sort

How orange each one really is

The same flowers again, this time grouped by how much of the colour is actually there in ordinary daylight rather than on a label.

True orange10No question about it. The colour that stops a garden dead.

Mexican Sunflower

Crocosmia

Marigold

Tiger Lily

Canna Lily

Zinnia

Gerbera Daisy

Poppy

Bird of Paradise

Lily (true lily)

Apricot, peach and salmon12Orange with the volume down. Sits beside pink; true orange does not.

Ranunculus

Dahlia

Begonia

Alstroemeria

Chrysanthemum

Calla Lily

Daylily

Dancing Lady Orchid

Also here Rose Snapdragon Busy Lizzie (Garden Impatiens) Tulip

Orange with red in it7Reads hot and slightly heavy. Wants bronze foliage nearby.

Amaryllis

Geranium

Hibiscus

Azalea

Vibrant orange and yellow flower cluster.

Lantana

Coreopsis (Tickseed)

Also here Bearded Iris

Orange only at the centre7The petals are another colour; the orange is the eye.

Daffodils

Black-Eyed Susan

Coneflower

Sunflower

Cosmos

Yarrow

Also here Lupine

Putting it together

What orange sits well with

Orange and deep blueOpposite each other on the wheel and the pairing everyone remembers.

Apricot and dusty purpleSofter, more expensive-looking, and much easier to live with.

Orange and chocolate foliageHeuchera or ninebark behind it; the leaf grounds the colour.

Meaning

What orange says

Orange carries energy, enthusiasm and open pride, without red's romantic obligation. It is the colour to send when you want to congratulate someone loudly and mean nothing more than that.