Purple Perennials

Purple perennials fill one of the lovely niches in the garden and fortunately, there are some outstanding plants in this list that will bloom for very long times in your perennial flower garden.

Purple perennials combine powerfully with those in yellow shades.

Achillea a tough plant, easy to grow but a bit of a thug

Aconitum superb "delphinium-like" plant but poisonous

Aconitum

Agastache make sure you get the hardy kinds - there are new hybrids out that are quite tender

Alcea or hollyhocks - great garden standby

Allium the ornamental onions are amazingly lovely cut flowers

Aquilegia or Columbine are wonderful spring bloomers for self-sowing around your garden

Aster is a garden standby for fall blooms

Astilbe is one of the shade gardens star plants

Aubrieta is a superb small low-growing rock garden plant

Baptisia is one of my favorites for mid summer blooms

Bergenia a semi-evergreen plant that blooms first thing in the spring (one of the first)

Buddleja or butterfly bush is amazingly fragrant and yes, it does attract butterflies

Campanula are delightful but quite thug-like as they take over your garden

Campanula

Caryopteris dies to the ground in my garden many years but when it doesn't, it gives a delightful flowering show

Centaurea or Bachelor Buttons is another wonderful plant but spreader (cut back after blooming for a rebloom)

Corydalis are some of the garden superstars but particular about where they grow

Delosperma a rock garden plant that does tend to die out in wet winters

Delphinium are old stand-by cottage garden flowers beloved by almost everybody

Dianthus is a huge plant family - carnations - ranging from annuals to hardy perenials.

Digitalis or Foxglove is a great shade garden plant. Not perennial but biennial (dies after flowering)

Echinacea or Coneflower is a garden standby for great flowering

Erysimum or wallflower are fragrant, spring blooming and if they like your garden, spreading

Eupatorium or boneset is a fall blooming, tall plant for the back of the garden

Euphorbia are amazingly tough plants but they do like to self-sow

Geranium are one of my favorite garden plants, are tough and flower wonderfully

Helleborus have to be one of my two favorite shade plants. Easy to grow once established

Hemerocallis are favorites of mine - search out the repeat and long-season bloomers

Hesperis or dame's rocket is a fragrant purple plant now found in ditches and fields

Hosta are the queens of the shade garden - amazing leaf colors!

Iris for color and fragrance - who could ask for more

Lamium are sprading but not aggressive ground covers. One of my favorites for this task

Lathyrus or perennial sweet pea - not overly tall but they will self-sow if happy and can become weedy

Lavandula is one of my all-time favorite full sun perennials with its fragrance and flowering.

Liatris or gayfeather is a spiked bloom for full sun gardens (opens from top down contrary to most perennials that open from bottom up)

Liriope is a short, grass-like ground cover for areas much warmer than mine

Lobelia is another shade lover but some varieties tolerate sunshine. Do make sure you're buying hardy varieties as there are tender plants masquerading as tough ones out there

Lunaria or moneyplant is a lovely seedpod and cut/dried flower but a self-sowing thug

Lupinus or Lupin in full sun and very well drained, gravelly soils can't be beat for summer flowers

Malva or mallow are heavy flowering but also weedy perennials.

Meconopsis is a garden superstar but you need very specific conditions (cool, dampish) to keep this one going.

Monarda or beebalm is a super summer bloomer but a bit of a spreader

Nepeta or catnip is another backbone plant for the front of the garden, extended bloom times

Origanum or oregano is mostly used as a herb but the newer varieties are good flowering plants as well.

Papaver or poppies, short bloom times but showy as all get out.

Penstemon is a North American native with lovely blooms, the breeders are doing their best to bring this to market with bigger flowers

Perovskia or Russian sage - a full sun charmer with spikes of purple flowers in late summer

Phlox is an old-fashioned backbone plant combining long bloom time with fragrance.

Primula are early spring charmers in a range of colors

Pulmonaria or lungwort come in a range of leaf colors and go well with hosta

Pulsatilla or pasqueflower are early spring bloomers and a traffic stopping plant when grown well

Salvia or sage, a heavy blooming plant not enough gardeners grow.

Scabiosa is an early summer (late spring) bloomer for the front of the garden.

Sedums are tough, no-nonsense plants for full sun and the new varieties are stunning for blooms

Stachys is seldom grown now but should be more. We're not talking the short, fuzzy-leaf one here, but the taller, purple species. Wonderful plant.

Stokesia or stokes aster is a little known aster, deserves more exposure

Teucrium is a long term friend of mine and I've had it in all my gardens.

Thymus or thyme is a spreading, creeping plant for groundcovers and herb gardens but do search out the interesting varieties ensuring they are hardy for your area

Tradescantia or spiderwort is a long season bloomer if you keep it damp.

Tricyrtis or toadlily blooms in the very, very late fall after almost everything else is done

Verbascum are summer bloomers with their big tall spikes. Watch the hardiness ratings on the newer varieties and understand they may be biennial

Vernonia is a North American native plant and a tall one for the back of the perennial garden

Veronica is one of my favorite purple perennials. Easy to grow and hard to kill

Vinca is everywhere as a vining groundcover plant and rightly so because it grows everywhere.

Viola come with a spreading thug warning but they will steal your heart with their spring charm as they cover your garden