85 Types of Purple Flowers: Names, Growing, Care, Locations, All Seasons

Purple Roses (Bush With Small Purple Flowers)

Red is normally the color of roses presented in bouquets and on special occasions. It’s traditional.

Purple flowers are often overlooked in the presentation department, but they shouldn’t be. The rarity of purple roses elevates them to another level and conveys sentiments of love and affection, and are quickly becoming recognized and appreciated in gardening projects across the country for their beauty.

It wasn’t until the 1800s that they were developed from two different roses, a hybridization that created several hues, lavender, violet, and plum, with purple being the most popular.

What makes the purple rose color such a stand-out in displays is that it has an impressive range of tones and color intensity.

Here are just 8 of them that range in color from the deepest purple to the lightest violet.

• Floribunda Ebb Tide (Weksmopur): A stunning, cultivar with an incredibly deep maroon-purple coloring. The captivating aroma has hints of citrus and clove.
• Floribunda Minerva (Vissancar): Deep purple petals with ruffled edges and a superb fragrance
• Cluster Rose ‘Novalis’: These lavender Roses contrast nicely against the green foliage on the bush on which they grow in abundantly aromatic clusters.
• Rosa Blue Moon (Hybrid Tea Rose): A ravishing Rose layered with 40 enfolding petals, it appears delicate but has a powerful fragrance. Growing on a bush, its stems are virtually devoid of prickly thorns.
• Shrub Rose ‘Rhapsody in Blue’: Classed as a semi-double flower, the 16 fragrant petals are gently arranged around golden stamens at the center.
•  Climbing rose ‘Indigoletta’: Known as a Climbing Rose, the Indigoletta has an abundance of light petals swirling towards the center. They are ideal for interior floral decorations and framing exterior archways.
•  Rambler Rose ‘Violet Blue’: An absolutely amazing flower that has incurved leaves, a color that lightens from dark magenta to lilac gray with the seasons, and dresses walls and fences perfectly.
• Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa): Found decorating small shrubs that also have bright red edible fruits, these incredibly fragrant Roses are springing up in more and more gardens.⁶

Purple and White Flowers, Purple and Yellow Flowers, Orange and Purple Flowers

Purple flowers with just one single color are accustomed to being centerstage in a vase, climbing over a trellis, or being presented singly as an offering of affection to a loved one.

When combined with another color, the effect is nothing short of breathtaking.

1. Purple and White Flowers

• Chalon Supreme (Viola x wittrockiana ‘Chalon Supreme’)
• Wolf’s Bane (Aconitum)
• Evening Primrose (Onagraceae)
• Wishbone Flower (Torenia ‘Clown Mix’)
• Fivespot (Nemophila maculata)

2. Purple and Yellow Flowers

• Magic Lantern Lupine (Lupinus ‘Magic Lantern’)
• Strict Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium montanum)
• Dwarf Iris (Iris reticulata ‘Katharine Hodgkin’)
• Purple Burst Aster (‘Purple Burst’ China Aster)
• Alpine Columbine (Aquilegia alpina)

3. Orange and Purple Flowers

• Passion Flower(Passiflora caerulea)
• Peony ‘Cardinal Vaughan’ (Paeonia x suffruticosa ‘Cardinal Vaughan’)
• Rhododendron ‘Royal Purple’
• Peony ‘Peter Brand’ (Paeonia lactiflora ‘Peter Brand’)

Tree With Purple Flowers

Just as there are individual flowers blooming and bushes bursting with colorful displays, equally there are trees that have their own incredible displays of purple flowers.

Some of them will have pink and purple flowers that are just bursting with vibrant colors, while others will be more muted, their branches laden with understated flora that are no less impactful.

There are some trees such as the Purple Leaf Plum Tree, the European Beech Tree that do not have purple flowers but have purple leaves that are no less impressive instead.

Indoor Purple Plants and Hanging Purple Flowers

To add variety and texture to an interior space, try adding a range of purple plants to a lighted corner of the room. The options are many, with and without purple flowers, tall and short, all easy to maintain.

• Known as the Purple Heart Plant, it has traveled from the northeast of Mexico and is a hardy plant that can be grown both inside in a container or outside in a hanging basket. Its leaves are dark purple while the flowers bloom in a lighter shade.
  Aggressive pruning is required to maintain its diminutive stature.
• The stalks on the Furry Feather Plant elevate it above the small container housing its roots, so even in a corner of the room, it stands tall. For its size, that is.
• The Purple Shamrock (Oxalis triangularis),⁸ isn’t actually from the Emerald Isle but the lavender leaves have the iconic shamrock shape. It also has a smattering of light purple flowers to contrast nicely against the foliage.
• The Purple Waffle Plant is an interesting specimen in that its leaves have a purple exterior while the curved interior is a bold green. No flowers accompany the rumpled-looking leaves but if they develop a metallic sheen they are impressive nonetheless.
• The Rose Painted Calathea is a fascinating plant with a patterned green upperside with purple on the other side of the broad leaves.
• The Purple Basil has a dark purple variety that is extremely fragrant and extremely tasty. It has somewhat of a disheveled appearance but the aroma and the spicy taste that the leaves will bring to your favorite food will more than make up for it.
• The Purple Passion Plants have long green leaves with purple edgings. Fine hairs also cover the surface which makes it smooth and velvety to the touch.
  They do well in hanging baskets and in indirect sunlight.
• The Persian Shield Plant has the appearance of dinosaur skin but is soft to the touch. It has a sheen to its mixture of very long green and purple leaves that taper to a point, and they will need pruning to stop them from dominating the room.
  It prefers humid temperatures so if in hanging baskets, it should be sheltered indoors on cold nights.
• The Rosey Plant, Calathea roseopicta ‘Rosey’, is all purple apart from the very thick jet-black line running around its edge. What is more captivating about it is that when the sun goes down, the leaves fold inwards until the next dawn.
• Called the Mexican Rose, this aucculent plant is shaped like a rose, its petals finishing at tapered points. These are very popular as they are similar to cacti in that they require next to no maintenance and last for a long time.
• Astounding is the only way to describe the Coleus Black Dragon Plant. The leaves have a distinctive ridged appearance that is such a deep purple as to be almost black and it appears even more so when compared to the slash of pink in the center.
  What is even more appealing about the Coleus Plant is that there are even more varieties to choose from to liven up your home.
• With the Coleus Wizard (Coleus scutellarioides),⁹ the splash of purple in the center of the leaf is surrounded by a bright green color. The shape of the leaves is outstandingly unusual which will make any passerby take a pause to appreciate the rare foliage.
• Another succulent plant that could take center stage on your dining room table is the Tiger Stripes Kalanchoe. It is somewhat of a chameleon, its surface a plain light green with burgundy stripes only making an appearance when there is sufficient sunlight.

Purple Ball Flowers (Small Purple Flowers and the Names of Purple Flowers)

Not all purple flowers are big and bold. Some are small and round, but just as showy as the big boy flowers fluttering in the wind and attracting all the birds and bees.

One of the species that leads the field are the Allium flowers and due to this trait, they have come to be known as the “ornamental onions”, with the sizes of their round ball-shaped flowers varying from a tiny marble to a large grapefruit.

(Image: suju-foto¹⁹)

Some of them proudly stand on long bright green stems to poke their little round heads above their neighbors, while others adhere closer to terra firma, content to be the showest plant in their small tract of land.

• The Allium schubertii is a perfect example. It has a height of no more than 50cm and a width of 25cm, yet its explosive appearance makes it seem bigger than it actually is.
  The dramatic effect is accentuated by the different lengths of purple flowers extending outwards from the center on long stems.
• The Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’¹⁰ is a perfect example of an ornamental onion, a perfectly formed ball of purple on a long smooth green stalk. It is reminiscent of a starburst on closer inspection, seemingly hundreds of bulbs extending outward to form a spherical shape on miniature stems.
  It grows best in hardiness zones 4-9.
• If you’re in the market for the darkest purple ornamental onion on the market, then look no further than the Allium atropurpureum. It grows to a height of just 3 feet and even though the flower head itself is not completely spherical, it is nevertheless a must-have.
• The ‘Ambassador’ (Allium ‘Ambassador’) is all round, looking like it’s just had a trim around the edges to maintain its onion-like shape, not one tiny bulb out of place. And it’s not small.
  With a diameter of 18cm when it fully opens up to the world, it stands tall, proud, and purple on stems 4 feet tall.
• The Gladiator (Allium ‘Gladiator’) is probably one of the tallest of the ornamental onions, stretching 4 feet high on dark green stems. But it’s the size of the heads at 15cm that makes this plant so imposing, especially when several of them are planted close together.

Purple Perennial Flowers

The beauty of having perennial purple flowers is that they just don’t die. They can, as can any living organism, but unlike annuals that completely die off once the season has finished, perennials regrow every spring.

This rebirth continues for 3 or more growing seasons so their beauty can be appreciated for years without having to replant new flowers every year. The reason why gardeners plant annuals alongside them is that Perennials have a shorter blooming period so are not around as long to be enjoyed.

Biennials provide the best of both worlds, lasting for 2 growing seasons. In the first year, there will be nothing to see, but in the second year, they burst forth in all their glory, soak up the sun, and then spread as many seeds as possible to ensure the same life cycles for the next generation.¹¹

To guarantee that your garden has something to display year in and year out, always select a variety of flowers not just for their impressive colors, but for when and for how long they will be displaying them.

Ground Cover With Purple Flowers (Purple Flower Names)

Sometimes there is a segment of your almost perfectly landscaped garden that is missing something, but you’re not quite sure what to plant in that vacant spot to complete the look of the garden, and that will complement the other plants.

Rather than plant a row of tall purple flowers to compete for space and offset the delicate balance of hues, shapes, and sizes that have taken years to perfect, the answer may lie in installing ground cover plants that will fill the gaps nicely.

(Image: Couleur²⁰)

Being able to restrict and mold the size, and shapes of plants such as Creeping Phlox to cover a bare patch of dirt, or accentuate borders, can make all the difference between an eye-sore and an eye-catcher.

Four other plants that can be used as finishing plants or to cover up unsightly walls are

• ‘Sweet Heidy’ Cranesbill (Geranium ‘Sweet Heidy’): Perfectly suited for all sun exposure locations and provides excellent ground cover; USDA HZ 4-8
• Creeping Thyme (Thymus serpillum): One of the most popular purple plants for ground cover with an excellent choice of tones. The small, evergreen compact shrub fits snugly in most gaps and is ever present when other plants have faded away for the winter.
• Carpet Bugle (Ajuga reptans ‘Black Scallop’): This fast-growing, ground-hugging perennial shrub thrives in the shade, so that has to be taken into account when planting. It is compact, a very dark shade of purple, aromatic, and evergreen.
• Chocolate Vine (Akebia quinata): The color of this plant, which is mainly featured as a climbing vine,¹² is unusual and exotic. It is simplicity itself to allow it to spread across the ground to cover a wide area rather than growing vertically.
  The effect will be quite amazing, as will the faint aroma of chocolate.

Purple Flowers and Their Meaning

Flowers are a timeless gift that is presented on numerous occasions from births, birthdays, weddings, and funerals. The color and the species of flower can have different meanings in different cultures.

In centuries gone by, the color purple was used as a mark of a person’s station in life, with kings and emperors foreboding the average peasant from wearing such an exalted color. That tradition is carried over into the military honors even today in the United States with the Purple Heart Medal awarded to someone in the armed forces for the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

Purple flowers are not held exactly in such high esteem but are valued nevertheless because of the rare beauty they can bring to gardens or wherever they are displayed.

• The symbolism in Buddhism of the purple Lotus flower represents the inner journey of the religion
• The Purple Clematis represents the beauty of the mind
• The Purple Phlox represents unity and companionship
• Alliums symbolize good fortune and humility
• Purple Wisteria flowers are associated with longevity
• Lavenders show tranquility, purity, and dedication
• The Purple Russian Sage denotes fearlessness

The meaning, or cultural significance of giving purple flowers as a gift for the garden or the window sill, is not as important as the giving itself as a colorful, fragrant flower is always appreciated by the recipient.

No matter which one of the flowers on the list you choose to grow or give as a gift, you can be assured that any one of these types of purple flowers will provide joy and beauty.

Frequently Asked Questions About Purple Flowers