Creating a purple theme garden
We love growing purple flowers, so when a client specifically asked for a purple themed flower bed, we were totally on board! We planted up this garden bed the day before thanksgiving in our zone 9b garden. We wanted lots of different elements and textures in the garden. Purple has been gaining a lot of popularity recently for good reason. Its rich moody color from lavender - to midnight can provide a lot of contrast in the garden. Purple also goes really well in the modern farm house era if youre looking to add a bit of color to the white and black exterior.
Adding a centerpiece:
In a circular bed, we love adding a centerpiece. Weather it be a foutain, bush, flower or small tree it adds a bit of height to the garden to give it some structure. We decided to go for a grafted olive topiary. The topiary isnt going to get too big, so its not going to block the front door. The silvery foliage is going to cmpliment the white and black exterior as well as the purple flowers.
Choosing plants:
Besides from the plants being purple, we wanted to add different textures and dimensions of purple into the garden.
Lavender - we alwaus love adding a airy - whispy element to the gardens. It gives the space more of a cottage feel that makes it feel cozy. We chose fern leaf lavender because it blooms almost all year, giving instant impact.
Cabbage - We wanted a bold foliage to incporperage into the garden, and what is more bold than a cabbage?! We found theme in the vegetable section of the nursery, the variety was ‘ruby red’
Ornamental cabbage- We wanted to compliment the large bold vegetable cabbage with something with a bit more texture.
Petunia - petunias are a powerhouse flower here in zone 9b fall through spring. They come in so many colors, and we found the perfect shade for this garden. Labeled ‘daddy blue’ it has a perfect light purple color that went so well with the lavender color. Sometimes pruple can be a very dark color, and to lighten it up a bit, we use lavender, even white to help brighten up the space.
Alyssum - We used a white alyssum to boarder the garden give a bit of definition to the space. We could have used a lavender alyssum, but I think the contrast was a good idea.
If we had some purple ranunculus we would have definitely added them to this space for a pop of spring color!
This arrangment will stay beautiful until it heats up in the spring. At that point we will switch out the flowers for more heat loving pallet. This would include:
Purple angelonia
Lavender vinca
purple sweet potato vine
lavender pentas
We will keep you posted on our summer purple garden going into the beds!
