Calendula Neon

Densely double ruffled heads in tangerine and deep marmalade, many with a burnished mahogany centre, and the colour is loud enough that it more or less buzzes. If the pale calendulas leave you cold, this is the other end of the family.

The practical virtue is that the colour holds. A lot of orange flowers brown at the petal edges after three or four days in a vase and start to look tired. Neon does not. It keeps its saturation right through, which is why it is worth the bed space at 50 to 60cm rather than growing it purely for the border.

It will fight with almost anything pastel near it, so put it with what it can take: rudbeckia, dahlias, bronze grasses, the hot end of the border. In a soft pink and lilac scheme it looks like a mistake. Watch for blackfly on the growing tips in June, which calendula attracts more than most things, and for mildew on the lower leaves in a dry late summer. Neither kills the plant, and cutting hard keeps it producing to the frosts.