8 Best Outdoor Garden Plants with Orange Leaves

Bronze and orange-colored foliage can add a lovely warmth to garden spaces. While red foliage plants can add a fiery presence amongst other garden plants, sometimes the striking contrast of red and green can be a bit too dramatic.

If you’re looking for more of a warming glow, plants with orange leaves can be a perfect in-between option.

Particularly in winter, orange foliage can add an eye-catching glow amongst other green evergreens.

And when paired with cool-toned foliage, like the dusky blue of the ‘Blue star’ Juniper dwarf conifer, it can create a beautiful contrast.

Best outdoor garden plants with bronze or orange leaves

From the vibrant glow of ‘Happy Flames’ coral bells to the warming bronzed shimmer of wind grass. Here’s a bright selection of outdoor garden plants with orange-colored leaves.

1. Coral Bells (Heuchera) 

You can find coral bells in a lovely array of colors, from silver and black to shocking pink! But if you’re looking to add a little warmth to your space, then Heuchera ‘Zipper’, ‘Southern Comfort’, ‘Happy Flames’, or ‘Sweet Tea’ can add lovely orange shades. For more subtle honey colors, heuchera ’Marmalade’ or ‘Caramel’, can add a lovely bronze glow.

If your garden doesn’t see much sun, coral bells are a great shade loving plant for a shady garden.

USDA zone: 4-9

2. Pieris ‘Flaming Silver’

Pieris shrubs are loved for their vibrant new spring foliage. As Spring rolls around, you’ll be treated to a glowing display of autumn-leaf-colored foliage. Red, pink, glowing orange, and yellow top the green growth below.

The cultivar ‘Flaming Silver’ puts on a beautiful display of honeyed pink tones, fiery red, and golden orange. As the leaves mature, they become variegated with a green center and creamy, honey-colored edges.

USDA zone: 5-8

3. New Zealand Wind Grass

Wind grass (Anemanthele lessoniana) emerges green but as it matures it turns into a wonderful mass of fiery colored foliage streaks.

In cooler areas, it is usually deciduous in winter. But in warmer areas, you should be able to enjoy its shimmering grass-like foliage year round.

USDA zone: 8-10

4. Japanese Maple (Acer)

One of the more popular small trees for small spaces, and a signature feature in Japanese gardens, Acers are well known for their vibrant foliage. They glow in eye-catching shades of green, red, purple, yellow, and even pink.

Many Japanese Maples will change color through the seasons. With fall usually providing the most spectacular displays. However, some remain vividly colorful year-round.

Acers with bright orange foliage year-round include, ‘Katsura’ and ‘Jeddeloh Orange’!

USDA zone: 5-8

5. Japanese Barberry (Berberis) 

Japanese barberry leaves have such a lovely color intensity. You can find them with berry purple or glowing yellow foliage, but ‘Orange Rocket’ and ‘Tangelo’ both have a great fiery orange tint.

USDA zone: 4-9

6. Pinus mugo ‘Wintergold’

I’m a big fan of dwarf conifers, especially for bringing color and texture in winter. While they may not be orange year-round, the sprays of foliage on this mini pine can bring beautiful shades of bronze and orange in winter. Great for a lovely golden, fiery glow when skies are gray!

When grown in full sunshine, the bronzing and orange color is usually more vibrant. Pinus mugo ‘Orange Sun’ is another similarly colorful option!

Many cedar cultivars can also often be tipped with orange. Thuja occidentalis ‘Fire Chief’ has beautifully orange-tipped growth when grown in full sun.

USDA zone: 3-9

7. Japanese spiraea

These mini shrubs put on an amazing display of fiery foliage from Spring to autumn. Shoots and new leaves emerge in a glowing red shade, then soon fade through to orange then golden yellow.

Spiraea ‘Goldflame’ and ‘Firelight’ are two very fiery colored cultivars. It’s definitely a lovely little shrub to brighten up a small garden!

USDA zone: 4 to 9

8. Ninebark (Physocarpus)

Ninebarks are known for their peeling bark and flower clusters, but also mainly for their vividly colored leaves.

Two of the most orange-colored ninebark cultivars are ‘Coppertina’ and ‘Amber Jubilee’. ‘Coppertina’ has a wonderful coppery, bronze color, and ‘Amber Jubilee’ has a honeyed, marmalade color.

USDA zone: 3-7

Whether you’re looking to add color to your garden in winter, or looking for some warming foliage tones to your balcony. I hope you enjoy adding these beautiful orange leaf plants to your mini garden space!

For more unusual foliage colors to bring into your space, take a look at these other striking colors…

• Plants with black leaves
• Plants with purple leaves
• Plants with pink leaves
• Plants with silver leaves
• Plants with red leaves
• Plants with blue leaves