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Purple Garden Ideas

July 21, 2024

ADD A SOOTHING EFFECT

In your Landscape!

Purple flowers, purple foliage plants, vines, and shrubs have a soothing effect when used in the landscape. Purple has historically been associated with royalty and nobility, the color of the clothes of the elite. An important reason for this association is that for the longest time purple dye was incredibly hard to come by. Its only source was a tiny sea snail called Murex, and tens of thousands of them were needed to make enough dye for just one robe.

Double Purple Petunia

Choose Purple

Purple flowering plants and purple foliage plants encompass a wide range of the color spectrum. Here are a few of our top picks.

Bulbs: Crocus, hyacinth, allium, tulips, liatris, dahlia, anemone, agapanthus

Annuals: Heliotrope, petunia, poppy, verbena bonariensis, ageratum, nierembergia, verbena, bachelor’s buttons, statice, calibrachoa, torenia, scaevola, morning glory, sweet peas

Perennials: Clematis, baptisia, lupine, iris, campanula, salvia, asters, phlox, Russian sage, perennial geranium, viola, lavender, aconitum, nepeta, delphinium, aquilegia, echinops, platycodon, pulsatilla

Shrubs: Buddleia, lilac, wisteria, hydrangea, vitex, ceanothus, azalea, rhododendron, Texas sage, rose of Sharon

planting

Consider planting your purple flower seeds, bulbs and cuttings in masses for swaths of color when planning a purple garden. Include plants that flower or those that provide changing foliage for seasonal interest.

Think seasonal. There are many purple flowers that bloom in spring, from crocuses and hyacinths to tulips and alliums. Early summer perennials include lupines, baptisia, iris, clematis, and campanula. For late summer purples, look to liatris, salvia, asters, phlox, and Russian sage.

Black blooming hellebore begins the show in late winter and sports attractive, evergreen foliage year round. Plant these underneath a purple-leaved tree, such as the Japanese maple, to complement your purple garden design.

Remember to consider sunlight or shade requirements for plants when planning a purple garden.

Hellebore
Lavender

Fragrance

If you’re thinking of creating a blue and purple scheme in your garden, lavender is probably the first plant that will come to mind. Not only is it wonderful for fragrance, but it’s also loved by pollinators, especially bees, and is drought- and deer-tolerant.

As an alternative to lavender, try catmint or Nepeta. This tough, clump-forming perennial has a mass of stems with tiny blue flowers and can be chopped back hard after flowering. Nepeta x faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’ is a favorite and is often used for hedging along paths. If frequently deadheaded and chopped back, it will flower well into the autumn.

Elevate

You can elevate the color by using vertical flowers like hollyhocks, shrubs, and flowering vines.

Sweet potato vine ‘Blackie’ or the hyacinth bean vine with purple pods can provide vertical elements in the purple garden.

False indigo is an exceptional early-blooming perennial. Growing to 3 feet in height in sunny spots and with a winter hardiness down to -40 degrees F, false indigo doesn’t have a particularly long bloom time, but the foliage itself is quite lovely.

Spike Speedwell Veronica is an old-fashioned, deer-resistant, purple flowering perennial that gardeners have loved for generations. Unfortunately, some varieties are prone to powdery mildew, so choose resistant varieties, such as ‘Royal Candles’. Reaching about 12 inches in height, spike speedwell has pointy spires of densely packed purple flowers that open from the bottom up. It remains in bloom for weeks. When planted in full sun the plant does not need to be staked and survives winters down to -40 degrees F.

Speedwell Royal Rembrandt
Cats Pajamas Nepeta

Contrast

If you’re thinking of creating a blue and purple scheme in your garden, lavender is probably the first plant that will come to mind. Not only is it wonderful for fragrance, but it’s also loved by pollinators, especially bees, and is drought- and deer-tolerant.

As an alternative to lavender, try catmint or Nepeta. This tough, clump- forming perennial has a mass of stems with tiny blue flowers and can be chopped back hard after flowering. Nepeta x faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’ is a favorite and is often used for hedging along paths. If frequently deadheaded and chopped back, it will flower well into the autumn.

Groundcover & Borders

Ground covers can be a wonderful way to fill in empty spots and add low-growing beauty to your beds. Some bloom in spring like sweet woodruff, epimedium, or creeping phlox, some in summer spreading dianthus, some in fall like creeping sedums which come in many colors, or peacock plumbago with its bright cobalt blue flowers. Depending on your climate, there are a great many to choose from.

Pansies and Violets are an excellent choice to use in a walkway as they are annual, biennial, or perennial type plants that bloom from Spring through Fall. They will bloom in either sun-filled or shady areas. They bloom in patches of white, purple, or yellow flowers.

Pansies
Purple and White Flowers

Add Romance

To put the purple-blooming plants in the limelight, white flowers are an excellent choice. This delicate color combination looks gorgeous on every bed, whether small or large. The purple and white flowerbed is pleasant to look at and has a calming effect. It is perfect for a romantic cottage garden, but would also go with almost any other garden style.

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