The late and great Christopher Lloyd, of Great Dixter in East Sussex, used to say he wanted to make his garden exciting from the moment he left the front door.

He didn’t want his garden to be relaxing. If he wanted to be relaxed he could head for the quieter areas close to the meadow or the pond, as he often did. Consequently his borders clashed with pinks and yellows and some gardening friends disapproved, suspecting that he did it just to annoy them. Christo (as his friends called him) loved orange, but it’s a colour lots of gardeners avoid although I can never see why. Orange is a stimulating colour. It blends with red and warm-yellow to create sunny harmony. It makes blue look more vibrant and it is sensational with moody, sultry colours — the blacker, the better. It’s warm and reassuring, but restful it certainly isn’t. I can quite understand why HRH The Prince of Wales has removed several orange azaleas leading to his personal sanctuary at Highgrove. This is his retreat, an area for calm reflection, and the planting needs to be subdued. Hopefully the offenders have been moved somewhere else to be replaced by whites and greens, or gloaming blues and greys. Apparently the azaleas were meant to be pink, a favourite colour he enjoys when used with blues and purples. This is another classic blend of similar colours designed to promote harmony. There are several orange flowers I adore and if you gaze into this new geum, ‘Totally Tangerine’, you’ll see that it’s far from being totally tangerine. There are hints of green, always a lovely trait in any flower. The spent flowers are also showing wispy pink stamens so this is one orange plant that could be used next to pinks without fear. Few plants are just one colour when you begin to study them. Look for the detail and it will show you what to plant with what, whether it’s veins, or stamens, or petal edges. There will be clues.

This subtle geum flowers for many weeks between late-May and autumn because it’s sterile, so cannot produce seeds. Most geums need division every three years, but this is so new that I can’t say whether or not this will be the case with ‘Totally Tangerine’. It was launched at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show, having been bred by Tim Crowther at Walberton’s Nursery, near Arundel in Sussex. It is some garden centres supplied by them (ring for stockists — 01243 551817). Tim was trying to breed a Geum rivale with upward-facing flowers, although this plant is far more like G. coccinea, one of the parents. Orange dahlias are equally useful and the classic butterscotch-orange ‘David Howard’ is hard to beat for flower power. This 1950s seedling from the ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ is one of the finest dahlias of all, with khaki foliage and soft-orange waterlily flowers.

Later in the year I shall also be relying on Crocosmia ‘Star of the East’, an old variety which produces huge six-petalled open stars right up until October. These can measure up to three inches in width in the right growing conditions, which are warm and wet. I am still hoping for a taste of summer, so I’m cutting back the soggy mess and clinging to my faith — and my cardigan. I may be glad of my orange flowers if it stays wet and cool. They will make me feel warmer and sunnier inside whatever the weather.