Partly by happenstance and partly by design, I have a wonderful floral display in mixed purples and near purples in my cottage garden this spring
The native redbuds bloom in assorted shades of
purply-pink in the woods behind my house and in my garden so over the years I have tried to collect plants to echo or at least complement that somewhat strident, perhaps even shocking, color range. (Photo credit to Midwest Garden editor Barb Dorsett.)
The effort has finally begun to pay off.
Beneath the redbuds in the garden a special vinca minor blooms in a lovely purple, harmonizing with the lamium 'Chequers' blooming nearby. Scattered through the partly shady area the self-sown lunaria , also perhaps better known as money plants bloom in rich purple at various heights. In a little while the softly purple Chattahootchee phlox will bloom there, too.
Nearby but in the sun, the ordinary garden chives are opening today. Soon they will provide a unifying and long lasting display of purple, running from the old-fashioned purply pink sweet peas and the foxglove digitalis clematis lilacjust budding mixed white to purply pink tall foxgloves across to the long-established and enduring pink striped "Nelly Moser" clematis and the very tail end of the lilacs display at the far end of the drive. The big old lilacs bloom in several shades of purple and are under-planted with evergreen creeping phlox in assorted shades of purple and pink, along with some tough-as-nails dwarf iris pumila in assorted purples and near purples.
Scattered throughout the sunny area are dozens of self-sown ultra-dark royal purple columbines and a truly spectacular display of self-sown bachelor buttons.(That photo only begins to show the richness of color and shows a little baby plant.) I love the bachelor buttons -- they bloom in, yup, you guessed it, purple but with striking hits of unbelievably rich blue and magenta jewel tones added in. Neither this photograph or this one of the same plant but here called Mountain Bluet does it justice.
The nicely rounded, solid shape of the bachelor buttons provides just the right contrast in-between the tall, spiky iris foliage and the short grassy chives, the mats of dianthus, thyme and other herbs in the hottest and sunniest section of the garden. And the clear colors are perfect together in the clear spring sunshine!
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