Color Focus: Purple

Lavender, lilac, and violet all merge into purple and can carry over into blue, bringing calm and serenity. Again and again I’ll see purple as a focal point in gardens - it’s a very popular color choice and these hues mix well with everything .

Above: Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’

Below: Everyone loves alliums (commonly called flowering onion). Easy to grow and fun for kids too.

Allium bulbs come in a variety of flower sizes and heights - plant them in the fall before frost. Most are purple but there are white ones too.

They make a good cut flower, draw in loads of bees, and bring a dash of whimsy. Keep in mind that after the flowers fade you’ll have strappy foliage which will need to slowly die back - if this is an issue you can treat them as annuals and dig up or locate the bulbs among hosta or other large leaved plants (which can effectively hide the yellowing leaves).

Above: Phlox subulata (moss phlox or creeping phlox) is useful along pathways or in rock gardens - one of the first perennials to bloom each spring. I adore the violet one which is native to Eastern and Central U.S., USDA Hardiness Zone 3-9.

Pansies come in the most luscious purples imaginable.

Above: Clematis vines also offer a wide range of purples and look great rambling up a white gate.

Clematis vines are fairly indestructible once you give them something to grow on (and shade at the root zone supposedly helps keep them happy). Do a Google image search with the words PURPLE CLEMATIS and look at all the wonderful choices. A friend swears by C. ‘Polish Spirit’ and so I’ve added one.

Above: Delphiniums are great verticals for the garden - tall spikes with multiple flowers ranging from lilac to deepest blue. The purples are simply irresistible and make a real statement - for many gardeners they’re the ultimate flower.

Below: Another great spike - butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) is a magnet for monarchs and other insects. Look for ‘Dark Knight’ which is deep purple and give it winter protection if you garden in colder zones.

Below: Mexican verbena (Verbena bonariensis) is a self-sowing tender annual for us Northeast gardeners but what a beauty to weave through plantings. Tall airy wands pick up any wind and give a wonderful see-through quality to mixed borders.

A Garden for Bees

I just gave a slide talk called Attracting Bees and Butterflies at the Horticulture, Education and Research Center at the University of Vermont in South Burlington which focused on the development of a Pollinator Garden which I’ve been involved in for a couple years. The talk showed the progress of this project from site work to installation and showed many of the beneficial plants that form the collection; afterward I led participants around the garden to look at both individual plants and at how they were arranged and grouped in the borders.

In late Fall the garden is at its peak with asters, anise hyssop, sweet coneflower, sedum, helenium, coneflower, goldenrod, and a variety of grasses which give bulk and texture to the borders.

This summer we had unusually hot weather and a long drought and it was evident which perennials suffered - those that prefer moist soils looked the worst (Joe Pye weed, swamp milkweed, monarda) - let’s see if they come back next spring.

The Pollinator Garden is a project of the Friends of the Horticulture Farm, a non-profit organization that helps support the collections at the HREC (known as the Hort. Farm). Since its redesign in 2014 I’ve been a volunteer consultant helping to manage the garden which was designed as an Outdoor Classroom. I love being part of the VT Master Gardener work days and teaching others about ecological landscaping. My good friend Sarah Salatino at Full Circle Gardens has continued to be a resource for this garden and has introduced me to many new native plants.

Fall asters are peaking now - and what a great source of food for butterflies and bees!