What can I plant now that will have orange flowers?

[AreolaGrande]

My little ginger cat has just died and I want to plant something with the DC to remember him by. Something with orange flowers that can grow in a pot and is fairly hard to kill?

I know nothing about gardening but have a lovely neighbour who looks after my pots so he will help.

Any suggestions will be very gratefully received 🙏

Crocosmia? Sorry to hear about your cat?

Echinacea

You could plant tulip and crocus bulbs for next spring

Crocosmia is pretty unkillable. Make sure you get the bog standard orange and not one of the fancy red or yellow varieties.

Crocosmia in a large pot. Sorry about your cat. We planted a patch of catmint where ours used to lie.

I love orange flowers, OP, and I have a lot in my garden. As it is quite exotic as a colour, though , many of them are seasonal ( like tulips) , or not hardy , like dahlias ( best range of them all, I think). You plant lilies and tulips in autumn, they flower the next year.

Now, you might be able to get some orange chrysanthemum for autumn bedding, b& q had some nice bronze ones last year.

So you could replant your tub once or twice a year to keep the orange going, with orange tulips, dwarf lily ‘Abbevilles Pride’ and then put orange geraniums and petunias in for the summer.

You might like Heleniums, which are flowering now. There are many varieties to choose from, they're gloriously bright and insects love them.

There are some gorgeous orange crocosmia that will come back around this time every year.

E.g. Emily McKenzie

Another vote for heleniums. They are joyous, and flower now, for a few months.

Sorry about your cat.

But if you want a quicker reminder, a lovely pot of orange tulips will bloom to cheer you up in March/April.

Nasturtiums? But you may need to buy an established plant rather than grow from seed, at this time of year.

Agree that crocosmia is lovely, but please don't plant Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora as it is horribly invasive and will swamp out other plants. It's a real pain to deal with and, even if you think you've got every corm out, you're guaranteed a good showing the following year.

It's going in a pot, I think

They self-sow 😭

I feel like there's probably a lot of painful experience behind that statement

@WiggelyWooWorm there is! I garden for a job and have lost count of the number of gardens I've tried to eradicate it from, it's like pushing rocks up hill and losing your grip just before the top. You look away for five minutes and it's all grown back.

Geum ‘totally tangerine’ is really lovely and flowers a lot in the summer

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I am so grateful.

Will be going in a pot and aiming to have something lovely next spring to remember him with 🧡🧡

I have orange helenium, echinacea and helianthemum all in flower in my garden right now (haven't grown them in pots though). What about day lilies? They're fairly hard to kill too.

This is a shrub
https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/potentilla-fruticosa-hopleys-orange/T66403TM?acq_source=[med:ad][src:b][cid:426305328][gid:1224856201000400]&utm_id=426305328&adgroup_id=1224856201000400&source=google&acq_source=[med:ad][src:b][cid:426305328][gid:1224856201000400]&utm_id=426305328&adgroup_id=1224856201000400&source=google&msclkid=2a16f44632531bc288ff909e46debc89
I have a yellow potentilla which is v tough and flowers most of the summer, I have a white one which isn't nearly as big and has fewer flowers. I suspect the orange flowering one might be a similar size to the white one.
It would need some feeding to keep it healthy in a largish pot. But flowers a long time.
Orange Welsh poppies would be a nice option they grow in cracks in cement and rough ground, Californian poppies are lovely too, proper name escholzia. But I don't think they'll flower til next summer.

But ironically day lollies are very poisonous to cats. Not quite as bad as true lillies, but still really to be avoided if you have cats or dogs.

I've heard that, but seeing as all 7 of my cats and 3 dogs would happily camp out among the lilies and daylilies and occasionally chew them without visible harm, I've never paid it too much heed.

How about a really bright orange acer?

https://www.jacksonsnurseries.co.uk/acer-palmatum-brandts-dwarf.html

I’m sorry about your poor little cat. It’s a lovely way to remember him though.