We all know purple people, but extra special are you purple plant people! These are some options for you!
Passiflora incarnata also known as may-pop or passionflower, is a scrumptious and hardy addition to any garden in regions as cold as Zone 5. This vigorous vine produces blooms all season long, reseeds itself readily and comes back year after year. In fertile soil, this one can start to take over. Last year, it attempted to smother a 6-year-old, 14-foot-tall persimmon tree in my garden.
Vernonia gigantea or ironweed blooms at the end of summer, complimenting the goldenrods and black eyed susans that bloom at around the same time. It produces magenta to purple aster type flowers that dry to a beautiful bronze and with a little hairspray, can be retained in dried arrangements for years.
Campanula americana or tall bell flower is an easy native with delicate pizzazz! It blooms early in the summer and attracts hummingbirds and other pollinators. This plant was shaded out by my golden Alexanders last year, but I hope it managed to reseed itself and that it comes back in 2020. It is a biennial, so it produces seeds in its second year and then dies off.
Agastache foeniculum or anise or lavender hyssop was the 2019 herb of the year. It smells of anise or licorice and tastes so yummy in both savory and sweet dishes. A member of the West Virginia Herb Association association Melissa Dennison made paw paw bread with anise hyssop icing and won the grand prize at the West Virginia Herb Conference in 2019. I made Mediterranean style empanadas with anise hyssop mixed into the beef used in the filling. I substituted about 2 tablespoons of dried anise hyssop for the tomato paste and vinegar in the Food Network recipe, linked above, and substituted the adobo sauce with a mint, cucumber, greek yogurt, tzatziki-style sauce for dipping.
So all you purple plant people out there, indulge your monochromatic tendencies and keep living that purple life!
