Surfeit might be a little strong. Let’s just say there’s purple everywhere I look this time of year. Click images for larger view.
Coneflowers, of course.
In the front gardens, purple clematis amongst the goatsbeard and wild grape, and hosta flowers. (They’re not just for foliage, you know.)
Hibiscus moscheutos in the wet garden, dahlia in patio pot.
And the wetland is just loaded with Joe-Pyeweed. (I’m sure I’ll get around to my tribute to Eupatorium in the next week or so.)
I always love purple, and your clematis, hosta, and meadow pictures look especially pretty. I tend to have too much pink these days, but regal purple helps to tone it all down and looks great too with the oranges of fall.
I love the purple but I have planted the Joe Pye weed in the garden and it is ten feet tall and…insipid! I love it in the fields! I don’t think that we can improve on nature! I love hosta flowers also!
Your post has made me realize something, Craig – I always think that purple is a color I want more of…. but I already have more than enough of the colors in your lovely photos – and to me they are magenta and lilac and lavender. After looking at this website:
http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorucl.html
it’s becoming apparent that what I’ve been craving isn’t ‘purple’ – but ‘Violet’.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie:
I’ll admit that I’m very imprecise with my color names. I guess one of the things that I like about ‘purple’ because there’s a wide range of colors that I lump in there that I really don’t have good names for on the tip of my tongue. I know that one factor is the amount of red. And the other is the amount of saturation. I marvel at it all — from the saturated monkshoods and iris to the ‘insipid’ (as Layanee calls them) eupatoriums. Variety is the spice of life — even if I can’t name the variations.
Layanee:
I’ll agree 100 percent that the wild eupatorium doesn’t have vibrant flowers. But I also find that it varies depending on the light. They are OK morning and evening, but really wash out midday. Or maybe it’s just my imagination.