Orange Flowers Underrated

marigA widespread bias against orange prompts writers to resort to such euphemisms as flame, tangerine, and apricot. Yet there’s an inconsistency here. Marigolds are popular annuals, and marigolds serve up great gobs of orange. Sophisticates prefer Zinnia angustifolia, which is dainty of flower and leaf but still unabashedly orange. And which of us hasn’t admired butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in a green meadow, or California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) on a grassy hillside? It isn’t the color itself that offends but the way in which it is used.

Orange does need