Our expert shares his favourite red and orange plants to warm up your plot in late summer Lobelia cardinalis has sizzling scarlet flowers Echinops ritro Sorbus aria If you’re holidaying at home in the south-west, you will be enjoying the vibrant colours of the hedgerows. Every year, they are ablaze with wild crocosmia and fuchsia, an exuberant combination of orange and pink. Crocosmia, or montbretia as it’s often known, is a South African native that has made itself at home here.
It’s an elegant combination of sword-shaped leaves and arching spikes of bright orange flowers. One of the best-known cultivars for the garden is ‘Lucifer’, with devilishly deep red blossoms, but there are also superb orange varieties such as ‘Firebird’ and ‘Emily McKenzie’. I also like some of the yellow forms such as ‘Mount Usher’.
Plant them in a sunny, moderately fertile soil that retains some moisture as you will find flowering will be lesser in very dry soil. The cheapest option is to buy corms, which are like bulbs, and plant next spring at a depth of three to four inches. You may also spot some Watsonia in coastal areas.
Native to South Africa and named after British botanist Sir William Watson, it is a perennial corm with sword-like leaves and tubular flowers along the stem and is usually orange or red but also comes in salmon pink and white. Plant in well-drained soil in full sunshine. It can be a little tender so, if you always lift your dahlias in autumn, then also l.