The Color Purple —

flowers in May. The shiny, plasticky texture of weigela leaves can almost shimmer in the purple cultivars. They also take shearing well, making them an interesting boxwood alterna tive for small hedges. Check out Electric Love™ and Midnight Wine Shine®, that are tiny one to two-foot varieties perfect to weave into perennial borders. There are 3 to 4-foot cultivars that make outstanding foundation plants including the clas sic Wine & Roses. Weigela’s tubular flowers are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds, making them at home in a pol linator garden. Try them with late blooming bulbs and springflowering perennials. They can provide beautiful contrast with dianthus, coral bells, and geums.

For full sun to full shade, Diervilla or bush honeysuckle is a tough, hardy, adaptable shrub that blooms in sulfur yellow clusters in heat of summer. Look for Kodiak® Black for a 3 to 4-foot selection or Firefly™ Nightglow™ for slightly smaller at 2 to 3-feet. These are soft, rounded shrubs whose foliage is most intense in spring before turning deep red in fall. They can be a terrific alternative to burning bush in the shade garden. Pollinators flock to the yellow flowers in July and August. Underplant these with short sedges or weave them through variegated Solomon’s seal with mid-sized ferns for a beautiful, layered effect.

There are many more purple-leaved plants to explore of all shapes and sizes. Readily available from member growers, give some a try this year to add punch and drama to your designs.

A. Waldbart & Sons Nursery Dorsey, IL • 618-585-3414

Creekside Gardens Collinsville, IL • 618-344-7054

Proven to perform in our landscapes and yours, this reliable beauty sets buds along the entire stem, not just at the tips. So even if it’s cut back or damaged by cold, the old wood buds still develop into flowers. Plus, it reblooms faster, providing a continuous floral display all season long.

Goodmark Nursery Wonder Lake, IL • 815-653-9293

Hoerr Nursery Peoria, IL • 309-453-9013

Rolling Hills Nursery Prairie View, IL • 847-634-3200

Turk’s Greenhouse Grayslake, IL • 847-546-1569