Whether or not you pooh-pooh the idea of fashion in gardening, there often
seems to be, uncannily, a zeitgeist at work that is difficult to explain.
It’s unlikely that all the garden designers get together for an annual
knees-up and decide: “Right, this year let’s all go with (insert colour
here)”, yet they often arrive at the same place simultaneously. It is almost
as though some unknown force works to move them to want to use similar
colours and plants. Or perhaps it’s just that the time is right.
This year, the time is evidently right for purple. It turned up everywhere at
the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show — even the monarch
herself, resplendent in a regal purple coat dress and matching headscarf,
was party to the trend — and it has continued to feature prominently in the
flowers, foliage and stems in the show gardens at subsequent RHS shows right
across the country.
Purple is a tricky colour to pin down. I asked several people to show me a
purple flower in my garden, and their selection ranged from what I would
describe as mauve and violet to something more akin to blue. Certainly, the
range of shades that could claim to be purple encompasses those with
undertones of red (verging on burgundy), black (resulting in dark, inky
aubergine) and blue (giving intense indigo).
To add to the confusion, all the pastel tones of purple — mauve, lilac and
violet — are achieved by adding varying amounts of white. It’s all very
subjective, but what I’m concerned with here are what I perceive as the true
purples — imperial as a toga trim and rich as the velvet in the imperial
state crown.
Purple is a powerful colour. Explosive in the wrong hands, it needs to be
handled deftly and treated with respect. Though undoubtedly both regal and
sultry, there is also something slightly sinister about it. The strict dress
code adhered to by the Victorians allowed touches of purple to be worn with
black after the initial period of deep mourning was over, and I think this
morbid association still lingers at the fringes of our imaginations.
Planting schemes that use the colour unrelentingly look gloomy at best and,
like too much rich cake, purple en masse can be sickly. It is a
sophisticated statement colour, and a little purple goes a long way. What’s
needed to keep it palatable is a bit of light relief.
Whether used with complementary or contrasting colours, purple is at its best
when it delivers a luscious and often unexpected punctuation mark.
The adage “less is more” applies yet again; a hint of something darkly sensual
is far more effective than blanket coverage. A subtle approach is to use
tone-on-tone purples, with paler and darker shades adding complex layers of
the same colour. Add other soft pastels to the equation for more variety;
the entire spectrum of pinks from palest shell to magenta provides classic
companions for purple, though pale tones of peach, apricot and creamy yellow
also work well.
Alternatively, good strong contrasting colours are unbeatable for making
purple “sing” in the garden. Use it to provide rich pockets of intensely
saturated colour among bright, citrusy shades such as lemon, lime and
tangerine.
I love to combine purple with vivid acid-green euphorbias, egg yolk-golden
roses and bright orange geums, though not necessarily all at the same time.
Heightening with white is another trick, employed with considerable skill by
Tom Stuart-Smith at this year’s Chelsea. The winner of best show garden
interspersed a richly coloured sea of perennials and grasses, including
purple irises, salvias and nepeta with glowing, pure-white Orlaya
grandiflora.
Recommended plants
Aconitum ‘Bressingham Spire’: standing about 1m high, with dark purple, hooded
flowers, the aconite (or monkshood) is a useful perennial for bringing
height to the border and colour from the end of the summer into early
autumn. An added bonus is its tolerance of semi-shade as well as sunny
conditions. Less welcome is the toxicity of all parts of the plant, which is
why I prefer to position it at the back of the border.
Allium ‘Purple Sensation’: strong vertical stems and drumstick flower heads
make alliums invaluable in the early summer garden. This cultivar has the
most intensely purple colouring, though a definite injection of red makes it
a rosy purple, which works beautifully with a wide range of other colours in
the border. Don’t stint on numbers when planting: they definitely look best
when grown en masse.
Aster amellus ‘Violet Queen’: stalwarts of the late summer and autumn garden,
asters can be notoriously prone to disfiguring mildew. This form is
thankfully resistant to mildew, and its amethyst, daisy-like flowers with
golden centres work particularly well in close proximity to contrasting
yellow-flowered plants.
Campanula portenschlagiana: this genus is richly endowed with purple-flowered
species and cultivars. This form, which is smothered in rich, purple,
elongated bell-shaped flowers in mid-summer, has a ground-hugging habit. It
will be perfectly happy creeping along the edge of a raised bed or finding a
comfortable niche between paving slabs and gaps in a wall.
Clematis ‘Viola’: there are countless clematis falling within the purple
spectrum, including many with a bluish tinge. This variety bears truly regal
purple blooms, the colour erring slightly on the redder side. Flowering from
mid- to late summer, it has a more subtle beauty than the large-flowered
varieties of early summer. The comparatively small blooms tend to dangle
coyly from slender stems; it is perfect if allowed to clamber through a tall
climbing or rambling rose, where one can look up into the face of its
velvety flowers.
Delphinium ‘Bruce’: I adore delphiniums; the tall flower spikes are impossible
to ignore, and I relish the few weeks when they are in full bloom. This
cultivar has warm purple flowers, each with a dark brown eye. If you prefer
your purple combined with a hint of dazzling indigo blue, the tightly packed
flowers of D ‘Cassius’ should fit the bill.
Iris laevigata: bearded irises were one of the key plants at Chelsea this year
and there are so many luscious purples that you will be spoilt for choice.
Alternatively, if you’re looking for an iris to grow in water or the wet
soil of a bog garden, Iris laevigata bears three or four clear purple
flowers in succession from each stem over a couple of weeks.
Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’: perhaps the best known of the hardy
angustifolia lavenders, this long- established cultivar has been a favourite
with gardeners since Gertrude Jekyll. The reasons are clear: its strong
growth habit and intensely purple, slender flowers. The trick to keep
lavender looking good is to chop it back after flowering, but make sure
there are still some leaves on the stems below where you make the cut since
lavender cannot regenerate from old wood.
Rosa ‘Violette’: true purple roses are rare — many err towards burgundy or
aubergine — but the small flowers of this exquisite rambler come close, with
a hint of blue cooling the richness of the purple tones. Other assets
include a delicate fragrance and few thorns on the stems, with clusters of
multi-petalled blooms produced in profusion in June. It looks best when
allowed to wend its way over a pergola or arbour, particularly when grown
amid other rambling roses of pale pink, cream or white.
Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’: a staple of the summer border, salvias thrive
in full sun. This form bears vertical spikes of richly purple flowers for
several weeks. At no more than 20in tall, they are best planted towards the
front of the border, where they make a useful upright shape amid more
rounded neighbouring plants. With a neat habit, they benefit from being
grown in groups of three or more to form a drift of intense colour.
