Bishy Barnabee’s Cottage Garden
Purple Flowers
Rich purples, from sky-violet to deep velvet
Growing purple flowers — your questions answered
Which purple flowers are most striking?
Verbena bonariensis at the back of a border, larkspur for vertical spires, scabious for soft drumsticks, sweet pea Cupani for deep velvet, and Nigella Miss Jekyll for that perfect sky-purple. For deeper jewel tones, look at Cornflower Black Ball or Cosmos Rubenza. Each one offers a different shape and tone of purple.
What colours combine well with purple?
Purple is incredibly flexible. With silver foliage and pink, it's pure cottage romance. With yellow and orange, it's vibrant and modern. With white, it becomes calm and elegant. With deep red, it leans dramatic and Victorian. The only pairing to be careful with is bright magenta-pink, which can fight with cooler purples.
Are purple flowers good for pollinators?
Outstandingly so. Bees especially favour purple and violet flowers — lavender, salvia, scabious, verbena, and echinops are all bee magnets. A purple-heavy border is one of the best things you can do for garden biodiversity. Butterflies also visit purple readily, particularly verbena bonariensis and buddleja-style shapes.
Will purple flowers come back next year?
It depends on the variety. Perennials like lavender, salvia, and hardy geraniums will return year after year. Annuals like larkspur and cornflower are one-season but self-seed reliably. Biennials like honesty give you spring flowers then those beautiful translucent seed pods. A mixed purple border can be largely self-renewing.