Purple flowers with yellow centers add a splash of color to any garden or bouquet and are simple to grow for maximum effect in bouquets or gardens.
Pasque flowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) make for vibrant Easter blooms that symbolize love with their pastel shades and perennial colors.
Cosmos
Cosmos flowers are easily grown from seed and self-sow quickly. They thrive in full sun with moderate soil conditions and require little irrigation once established – perfect for water conservation landscapes or dry gardens. Plus, transplanting from nursery containers or garden starts is effortless!
The Cosmos flower derives its name from the Greek word for order, cosmos. This quality can be seen in its blossom’s symmetry, grace, simplicity, and ability to attract beneficial insects such as green lacewings and tachinid flies that prey upon problem insects such as aphids.
Cosmos plants produce single flowers in bowl or cup shapes on long stems, making them excellent cut flowers. When properly deadheaded and regularly trimmed back, their blooms provide continuous coverage throughout the season – perfect for cottage gardens and floral arrangements! Some varieties, such as Sonata White, have pure white petals, while ‘Cosmic Yellow’ has vibrant yellow ones.
Prunus
Prunus is one of the premier genera of ornamental and fruit trees cultivated worldwide, producing fruits that have commercial value as well as being highly decorative garden planting options. Prunus species offer consumers various flavors, textures, and colors, each providing wood resources for furniture manufacturing or other wooden products.
Garden designers tend to admire the Prunus cerasifera ‘Atropurpurea’ purple leaf plum tree, known for producing fragrant and colorful clusters of flowers with dark green to bronzy purple leaves that feature silver hairs – plus sweet, juicy berries, according to Garden Design.
It is a highly versatile tree, ideal for use in the home landscape and Japanese gardens, particularly as an ornamental specimen plant or specimen plant in Japanese gardens. Furthermore, this type of plant can also be grown as a hedge. After flowering has finished, it should be pruned back to avoid the removal of buds for next year’s bloom.
Corydalis
Corydalis is a shade-loving flowering plant with multiple hues ranging from purple to blue to yellow, perfect for mixing in with hostas and hydrangeas in any garden setting. USDA zones 5 through 7 offer ideal growing conditions; fertilize it every spring before blooming to extend blooming seasons while removing spent flowers to prevent unwanted self-sowing and prolong the blooming season.
Corydalis flexuosa’s delicate, fern-like leaves provide an elegant backdrop to its sky-blue blooms and are quickly grown in either partially shaded areas of your garden or woodland garden or containers. Clump division works best, and division can also take place during fall. When transplanting corydalis into its new spot, dig two times the root ball’s size of an air pocket-free hole and fill tightly. Water the newly planted corydalis immediately so as not to settle the soil quickly!
Crocus
Earlier in the growing season, your crocus plants may start looking sickly, yellowed, and wilted due to underground pests like nematodes, worms, or mites; dig up and discard damaged corms as soon as possible before replanting into compost-rich soil that contains beneficial bacteria to suppress them.
The Pickwick Crocus is an early bloomer that will add color and personality to your garden before Easter arrives, blooming from USDA zones 3-9. It thrives well.
Crocuses with six to eight delicate petals per bloom make an eye-catching display in any flower or herb garden. Native to Turkey and the Balkans, they reach up to 6 inches tall when grown under full sunlight or partial shade.
Liatris
Liatris flowers, called gayfeather or blazing star flowers, bring vertical pizzazz and draw butterflies’ attention to any perennial border. Their long and airy flower spikes mesmerize visitors while drawing butterflies’ interest; group together these purple blossoms with other plants of similar hue for an eye-catching combination – for instance, Verbena canadensis ‘Homestead’ with Allium sphaerocephalon (drumstick allium) and Echinacea purpurea ‘Kim’s Knee High’ for an impressive trio that stands out in any garden!
Liatris contains around 40 species, with distinctive flower spikes reaching five feet tall. Native to grasslands and meadows, Liatris species make great additions to wildflower and prairie gardens alike.
Liatris can be grown from corms, rhizomes or crowns purchased at nurseries or garden centers specializing in perennials. Depending on the species, Flowers bloom from early summer to late fall; seed-grown varieties require cold stratification to germinate successfully and produce flowers.
Lilacs
Lilac flowers bloom from mid to late spring, with some varieties repeating their show into autumn. Lilac shrubs make an easy addition to gardens, meadows, or containers; compact varieties such as Miss Kim work particularly well in smaller spaces, while double flowering types such as “Scentara Double Blue” could provide additional blooms later in the season.
Lilacs have long been celebrated in various cities around the world, from Lombard, Illinois – with its Lilac Festival and Parade each May; to Mackinac Island, Michigan’s week-long Lilacia Park celebration; to Rochester, New York, with its oldest Lilac Festival in North America.
Plant your lilacs in full sun and rich, well-drained soil, ensuring adequate drainage. In springtime, use a slow-release woody plant fertilizer granular feed, but do not overwater as lilacs do not tolerate wet conditions. If desired, you should prune mature plants to control size and shape before propagating through cuttings taken in late winter or early spring.
