Garden style
The Hot Border: A Planting of Fiery Reds, Oranges, and Golds
Turn up the heat. A bold, sun-drenched border of fiery reds, oranges, and golds that crescendos in late summer.
If the white garden is cool and calming, the hot border is its opposite: loud, energetic, and unapologetic. Fiery reds, blazing oranges, and rich golds vibrate against each other and seem to pull the sun right down into the bed. It is a scheme that peaks gloriously in the heat of late summer, just as softer plantings start to fade.
Hot colors advance toward the eye, so a hot border feels close, full, and dramatic. The secret is to layer the shades, true reds with oranges and golds, and to ground them with dark foliage so the whole thing reads as rich rather than gaudy. Build from the full lists of red and orange flowers.
Fiery perennials
These are the core of a hot border: sun-lovers in the hottest colors that return every year and flower for weeks.
Crocosmia 'Lucifer'
The definitive hot-border plant: arching sprays of pure scarlet trumpets over sword-like leaves.
Helenium
Daisies in burnt orange, red, and gold that carry the colors of autumn into the border.
Gaillardia
Blanket flower, throwing out red-and-gold daisies nonstop through the heat of summer.
Kniphofia
Torches of orange and red on tall stems, dramatic, architectural, and loved by hummingbirds.
Echinacea 'Hot Papaya'
A coneflower in vivid orange-red, double-centered and glowing, on a tough, drought-proof plant.
Monarda
Shaggy scarlet heads that bring in the pollinators and add a jolt of pure red.
Golden glow to balance the heat
A hot border needs gold and yellow to give the reds and oranges room to breathe and to tie the scheme together.
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'
Sheets of golden daisies with dark centers, the workhorse gold of the late-summer border.
Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb'
A froth of small golden-yellow stars on fine foliage that blooms for months.
Achillea 'Coronation Gold'
Flat plates of mustard-gold on silvery foliage, long-lasting and drought-tough.
Hemerocallis
Trumpets in warm gold and orange, opening fresh every single day through high summer.
Late-season fire: bulbs and grasses
For the grand finale, add tender bulbs planted in spring and a grass or two to catch the low autumn light.
Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff'
Blazing scarlet single flowers above near-black foliage, the ultimate hot-border dahlia.
Canna
Big tropical leaves and bold red flowers that bring real drama and height to the back of the bed.
Lilium lancifolium
Recurved orange petals freckled with black, exotic and unmistakable in midsummer.
Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah'
An upright native grass tipped red in fall, adding movement and a smoky haze.
Ground the fire with dark foliage
Hot colors sing loudest against deep, moody foliage. Weave in dark-leaved plants, the near-black leaves of a Bishop dahlia, purple heuchera, a burgundy ninebark, and the reds and oranges will look richer and far more deliberate.
What plants make a hot-colored border?
Crocosmia, helenium, blanket flower, red hot poker, hot-colored coneflowers and dahlias, plus golden black-eyed susans and coreopsis to balance the reds and oranges.
How do I combine hot colors without it looking messy?
Repeat a few key plants through the border, include plenty of gold and yellow to give the reds breathing room, and ground the scheme with dark foliage so it reads as rich rather than chaotic.
When does a hot border look its best?
Late summer into early fall, when many of these heat-loving plants peak together and the lower, warmer light makes the fiery colors glow.
Design a garden with these plants
Open BloomsEye Studio with this guide's plants ready to drop onto a plan, then watch the whole bed bloom across the year.