so cold that plants are turning purple

The cold weather is coaxing some fine seasonal coloration out of plants, especially those whose names hint to a destiny with the color purple anyway.


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Acacia baileyana ‘Purpurea’

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deeply plummy mid ribs on the leaves of Melianthus ‘Purple Haze’

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Yucca aloifolia ‘Purpurea’

I hope your gardens are faring as well as possible in this seriously cold December, and that you’ve protected and saved from the freeze that’s blasted North America’s west coast what you could and/or become resigned to bouts of intense plant shopping in spring. In the meantime, there will always be catalogues to browse in winter, like England’s Crug Farm Plants. Though they’re mostly untried (and unavailable) in Southern California, I’m thinking hardy scheffleras like S. alpina and macrophylla might be just the thing for containers kept on the moist side next summer.

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4 Responses to so cold that plants are turning purple

  1. Peter/Outlaw says:

    Brr! Let’s just hope this is the last of the frigid air from the north that we get this season! Crug Farm’s catalog is such a treat! Unfortunately they don’t ship plants over here. Sure wish they did!

  2. Hoov says:

    Of course we’re going to have a heat wave now.

  3. Welcome to how the rest of us live – or the % of the world that’s not a Mediterranean climate! Purple is a good color, showing vigor to withstand tribulation – I bet it’s rare there, except on plants like you mention. Some cacti out here really turn purple to cold. I hope this next arctic blast rumored for next weekend hits the east or not at all, though this last one missed this far south, too.

  4. Denise says:

    @Peter, your garden has probably been tested already to its limits by this recent cold front, right? Yeah, I look at lots of catalogues that don’t ship, like Lambleys in Australia. What else is winter for?
    @Hoov, it was so hot at the flea!
    @David, I spent a winter in Grand Junction, Colorado once, the only time in my life I’d get up early to run. The cold really energized me. I wonder if I’d react the same now. Must be fun exploring winter in your new home.

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