Purple | Forest Garden

Mexican petunia, Ruellia simplex, has finally covered itself with purple flowers. Hardy only to Zone 8, it needs special care or a mild winter to survive here year to year.

Purple has a long and regal cultural history, extending back into ‘pre-history’ when early artists sketched animals on cave walls with sticks of manganese and hematite. Discovered in modern times at French Neolithic sites, these ancient drawings demonstrate an early human fascination with the color purple. These same minerals, combined with fat, created early purplish paints.

Purple Buddleia davidii, butterfly bush, brings many different species of butterflies to the garden.

The ancient Egyptians used manganese in glaze for purple pottery. Elsewhere around the Mediterranean world, purple fabric dyes were stewed from certain mollusks.

Difficult to obtain, purple fabrics originally were reserved for royalty, rulers, and the exceptionally wealthy. Purple is still used ceremonially by royal families and Christian bishops.

Later purple dyes were made using lichens, certain berries, stems, roots and various sea creatures. Synthetic shades of purple dyes were first manufactured in the 1850s, when ‘mauve’ made its debut. Creating just the right shade can be both difficult and expensive.

Native purple mist flower, Conoclinium coelestinum, returns and spreads each year.

Considered a ‘secondary color,’ shades of purple range between blue and red. Artists mix various reds, blues and white to create the tint they need. As a secondary color, purple has come to symbolize synthesis, and the successful blending of unlike things. It is creative, flamboyant, magical, chic and ambiguous. Lore tells us that purple was Queen Victoria’s favorite color.

Rose of Sharon varieties offer many purple or blue flowers on long flowering shrubs.

Violet and indigo form part of the visible spectrum of light, but not purple. Purple glass is made with minerals, like hematite, melted in the mix to create its rich hues.

Purple flowers, leaves, stems, fruits and roots indicate the presence of certain pigments, known as anthocyanins, that block harmful wavelengths of light. Purple leaves can photosynthesize energy from the sun. The rich pigment attract pollinators to flowers and may offer purple parts of the plant some protection from cold weather. These deep colors are often considered to enhance flavor and increase the nutritional value of foods.

Tradescantia offers both purple foliage and flowers. A tender perennial, it can be overwintered in the house or garage. Here it shares its space with an Amythest cluster.

I love purple flowers and foliage for their rich and interesting contrast with all shades of green. Ranging from nearly pink to nearly black, botanical purples offer a wide variety of beautiful colors for the garden. Add a touch of yellow or gold, and one can create endless beautiful and unusual color schemes for pots, baskets and borders.