The colour purple
WHEN I am an old woman I shall wear purple,’ Jenny Joseph promised in her poem Warning. ‘I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired, And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells, And run my stick along the public railings.’ Applying this to gardeners, it might read: ‘When I am old I shall grow purple.’
Of course, the connotation is that purple is such a frowned-upon colour, we can only enjoy it when we no longer care what people think. But never mind the neighbours’ raised eyebrows – to forgo purple is to miss out on the many glorious shades within its spectrum.
Marrying red and blue, purple encompasses velvety damson and fiery magenta, through to midnight indigo. All these create impact in the border,
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days