We all know and love the melon fruit, a juicy, refreshing, water-rich fruit. Melon fruit comes in a range of colors and tastes. There are a number of melon varieties and some of these produce flowers, so we’ll have a look at the flowers of the melon vine.
Melon is also a color, named after the melon fruit, and is a mix of light red and orange. We’ll look at some Melon Flowers, flowers that have the lovely melon hues of light red and orange. A warm color that is more subtle than bright red or oranges but which blends well with its own color range.
Melon Flowers can comfortably sit beside flowers with more pastel and pale shades and can also work with bolder colors.
Melon is a flexible color and any plants that produce Melon Flowers would be a welcome addition to a garden, patio, borders, and containers. The color brings zest and zing in a very refreshing way, much like the delicious fruit the color is named after!
Let’s have a look at the flowers of the melon and then at some gorgeous melon-hued flowers and see if any whet your appetite for a taste of melon!
Melon Flowers
Melons belong to the Curcurbitaceae family of plants and grow on vines that sprawl across the ground. The vines can be encouraged to grow upright with supports. Melon trees have been grown for over four thousand years as an important food and water source.
There are many varieties of Melons: Watermelons, Ananas, Camouflage, Cantaloupe, Casaba, Galia, Canary, Bitter melon, Charentais, Crane, Winter Melons, SkyRocket, Honey Globe, Gac, and Autumn Sweet. Many of these melons have flowers.
Male Melon flowers have a stamen, the pollen-covered stalk that sticks up in the center of the flower. Female Melon flowers have a sticky knob, called a stigma, inside the flower, to which the pollen sticks. It’s the female flower that sits on top of an immature, tiny melon.
Watermelon flowers are yellow in color and occur singly. They rather resemble Petunia blooms with five united petals and are papery in texture. Flowers occur at the newest parts of a vine.
The vines of the Cantaloupe produce bright yellow flowers during the warmer months. Cantaloupes have stunning foliage, varying from dark green to cream. The color of the foliage depends on the season the cantaloupe was cultivated in.
Canary Melon vines produce yellow flowers during Spring. Winter Melons produce yellow flowers with dense foliage.
All the flowers of melons are a glory in themselves.
Melon-Hued Flowers
Melon Orange Gerbera Daisy
It’s no surprise that the wonderful Gerbera Daisy has a melon shaded variety, as this African Daisy really suits warm, sunny tones.
The Melon Orange Gerbera will make you think of oranges ripening under a sunny sky and will add sparkle and glamor to your garden. They give a burst of warmth to floral arrangements too.
Crackling Fire Orange Begonia Boliviensis
Like most tuberous Begonias, the blooms of this Begonia are bright and colorful and have a long flowering season. Male and female flowers are borne separately on the same plant. The male flowers are more elaborate than the female ones.
This plant is perfect for growing in baskets and pots. The pretty melon orange flowers will bring a smile to your face. Full of vigor and life the color seems to bounce with energy.
Dahlia Summer Flame
Dahlias have an absolutely beautiful petal arrangement and always look abundant and sumptuous, so the pale melon tones of this variety make for an utterly beautiful blossom. Like its name, this plant puts you in the mood for warm summer days aflame with life.
Begonia Superba Salmon
Although this variety of Begonia is called Superba Salmon, because its blooms are salmon in color, it can also fit in the Melon Flowers category as the salmon tones are remarkably akin to melon tones.
Favoring the orange shades, this Begonia’s enormous double flowers grow abundantly. The plant suits any size of the garden, including small gardens, balconies, or window boxes. The blooms are compact so won’t overpower a smaller space.
Iris Germanica Pretty Print (Iridaceae)
There’s not really a color that wouldn’t look good on Iris’s ruffled petals and pretty design. This light melon shade is superb and is bound to warm and soften its surroundings.
Rose Alexander
A strong orange/melon tone gives this rose a bold and cheerful appearance. The blooms don’t fade, which is a plus. It’s a tall hybrid tea rose that loves to be under full sunlight.
Watermelon Pink Ranunculus
Being a Ranunculus, the bloom is bewitching and in the bold tone of pink, reminiscent of Watermelon fruit, this Ranunculus will stand out. The papery petals, and the way they form a rose-like bloom, is simply beautiful.
Chinese Lantern
This is a perennial that grows in clumps that grow to about one to two feet in height and spread. The flowers of this plant are small and white but after the flowers appear the calyx or seed pod takes over.
The seed pods are orange-red in color, hence the plant’s inclusion under Melon Flowers.
The pods look like little lanterns. If you have this delightful plant growing in your garden and walk by it in the evening you could easily imagine the lanterns are just waiting to be lifted from the stems.
A magical plant!
Oriental Poppy (Papaver Orientale)
The Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientale) flowers have a vivid melon color and light up the landscape. The petals are very delicate looking, like crepe paper. The gray-green foliage offsets the blooms exquisitely, although the foliage quickly degrades after the plant’s flowering.
Montbretia (Crocosmia Lucifer)
The Montbretia (Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’) has blooms in the wonderful red-orange hues of melon and is a desirable choice for floral arrangements. With foliage that resembles that of the Iris and flowers akin to Freesias, this is a pretty plant. The plants reach around 2 to 4 feet tall.
Canna Lily (Canna spp.)
This plant, oddly enough, given its name, is not in the genus Lilium. The blooms do, however, look like lilies. The upper petals are in a rich melon shade and the lower ones yellow and speckled. It grows up to 5 feet in height. In cold climates, store canna bulbs for the winter.
New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens Hawkeri)
This is an easy-to-grow annual that produces large, five-petal flowers that can be pink, red, purple, white, or orange. The orange version is distinctly melon-hued.
American Bittersweet (Celastrus Scandens)
Included in the Melon Flowers category not because of its flowers, which are greenish-white to yellow, but because of its reddish-orange fruit encased in a golden husk.
You are advised to grow the native American Bittersweet instead of the Oriental bittersweet plants, which are invasive. It’s a veining plant that can be left to ramble on the ground or up a support, such as a trellis or an arbor.
Crown Imperial (Fritillaria Imperialis)
Crown Imperial is a spring-flowering bulb. It produces blooms that look like upside-down bells in red-orange and yellow. A superb feature of this plant is the fact that the flowers nod their heads. Inside the flowers, there are detailed markings; six round, white, shiny dots near the base of each petal.
Related: 18 Different Plants That Start With The Letter W (Including Photos)
Carnation (Dianthus Carophyllus)
With beautiful blooms and a lovely fragrance, Carnations are entrancing plants. This variety has a sublime hue in soft melon. It’s very calming and soothing to rest the eyes upon. The grey-green foliage blends magnificently with the blooms.
Abutilon Victor Reiter Flowering Maple
An evergreen shrub, or small tree, that bears beautiful melon-hued bell-shaped flowers. As buds, the prospective blooms resemble little pumpkins, but when the buds open the blooms are rather like Hibiscus blooms.
The blooms look really good against the dark green leaves. The blooms dangle from the branches, as though adorning the tree with pendants. Not only will you and your friends stand gazing at this wonderful plant, but it’ll also attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
Agapetes Ludgvan Cross
Included in the Melon Fruit Flowers category because of the melon-like shape of its flowers, this is a unique winter-blooming shrub that likes shady gardens. The very unusual flowers hang down from the undersides of the arching branches.
The flowers are tubular, succulent, and pink, with dark red zigzag lines. Very striking indeed! The leaves are small and lustrous, and, in temperate climates, stay evergreen. Over time, a gnarly caudex develops.
Conclusion
Whether you admire the flowers of the melon vine or are a fan of melon hues, there’s much to explore. The melon plant has a number of variants, all producing delicious fruits, and some bearing gorgeous yellow flowers.
There are also many melon-hued flowers to choose from if you’re after floral melon rather than fruit melon. So, go get yourself a slice of melon, one way or the other!
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