Hi there to us all,

I am looking for your best purple, mauve and similar coloured flowers ... it is for a purple and white garden theme.

Which do you add to the list and which have you grown successfully in your containers if any?

Do you like purple in the garden?

I find they go well to offset greens and silvers/greys and whites and especially reds don't you think?

I love them ...

Hi all,

Don't you like PURPLE in the garden?

Would really appreciate your help here even if you think your choices are all the popular ones or repeated - what purple flowering plants get your votes?

Thanks,

Hi there,

I think one of my favourite favourites has to be an Agapanthus - and now there is a darker purple variety that is a fairly new plant. It makes a very fine mass display in the garden and a really fine single container plant - the flower is really lovely and when that dies off, then it still looks good all year round until it blooms again.

Pretty Lily!

And then there is that magnificent Jacaranda tree - not for containers! Ah ... but so beautiful as the purple carpet strewn over the roads every September in Johannesburg. Hoo Boy as Al Pacino said somewhere! I think?

Cheers now

Hi ZL,

In addition to the flowers of the Jacaranda tree which are abundant in this part of Mexico and bloom I believe twice a year and attract all sorts of birds,especially warblers, there is one other local purple flower found in the wild that is one of my favorites.

Maria tells me that they are called ESPANTA MULAS which literally translated means MULE SCARER. They are rather large flowers when open ( I often see them closed and "sleeping") with large stems and the outside is a deep purple while the interior is more lavender and white. It is now coming towards the end of the rainy season in a month or so and they are now in bloom. For some reason(s), they are often seen attracting inside dozens upon dozens of tiny insects- however, I have never seen a mule near them, so I guess that they are aptly named.

Hi Les and Maria,

Can you find out the botannical name for the 'mule scarer?' Would love to look at a picture and see whether or not it could be grown in a container - sounds exotic and very pretty besides.

Has anyone grown Plumbago? It is such a lovely mauve fist shaped flower made up of florets. It is so adaptable too as it can be trained to grow in all sorts of ways - make it a hedge, let it spill over rocks, grow up an trellis, cut it like a topiary, let it grow like a wild shrub - ah gee boy, it bends to your will and looks pretty anyway you choose! I have seen it in big pots grown as a lollipop tree with a living mulch base spilling over like a tablecloth - pretty pretty pretty, loved that particular show garden.

And what about the Mauve Wisteria? Such a fragrant and beautiful sight when in full bloom. You do need some space and a bigger pot/container, but it is a beautiful addition to anyone's deck or patio. Good for bees and butterflies too.

What is your favourite purple flower?

Anyone for Irises? Orchids? Rosemary (tiny I know but it works in a purple garden theme)? Lobelia? Lavenders? Potato bush/tree?

Cheers now