The 7 spring bulbs with purple flowers to adopt in the garden

Purple tulips, majesty combined with elegance

It’s impossible to mention spring bulbs without talking about tulips. Especially since there are a multitude of species and varieties to stagger flowering and vary flower shapes. Choosing tulips with purple flowers is, in a way, adding a touch of depth, elegance, and mystery to your garden. Indeed, as the color of royalty, purple gives tulips, inherently elegant, a timeless charm and an almost divine grace.

Among the most beautiful varieties of purple tulips, one cannot overlook the early double tulip ‘Alison Bradley’. From April onwards, it offers double flowers, perched on short but sturdy stems, ranging from purple to violet, a color nuanced with red or magenta highlights. In the same category of early doubles, the ‘Black Hero’ variety, a peony-flowered tulip, stands out with its dark purple, almost black, flowering. A color all the more striking as its flowers are large.

In comparison, the ‘Triumph Continental’ variety seems much more modest with its single flowers. However, it makes its presence known with its purple corollas with black reflections, and its tall 45 cm stems, allowing it to find its place at the back of a flower bed.

To add a touch of originality, two varieties stand out: ‘Purple Crystal’ produces fringed flowers in a beautiful purplish claret color, and ‘Sarah Raven’ offers a lily-flowered bloom, giving it a star-like appearance.

The tulips ‘Purple Crystal’ and ’Sarah Raven’

Ornamental garlic, flowers with a round shape.

Perched on tall stems, ornamental garlics (garlic plants) always find their place in a contemporary garden. However, their perfectly round flowers can also thrive elsewhere. While their umbel inflorescences are mostly adorned in white, pink, or purple, the color purple is also represented among ornamental garlics, bulbous plants from the Amaryllidaceae family. Very graphic, the stems that bear the globular inflorescences bring verticality to the garden while the flowers provide roundness.

Among the varieties of ornamental garlics with purple Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’ stands out for the intensity of its color. From the month of May, the perfectly round inflorescences, composed of a multitude of small star-shaped flowers, bloom in purplish violet. In the same vein, Allium atropurpureum imposes itself with its wildflower appearance. Its inflorescences, slightly smaller and less round than those of other varieties, nevertheless present a real interest with their reddish purple color nuanced with black highlights.

The Allium sphaerocephalon species, often called round-headed garlic, offers a profusion of cute pompoms, adorned in a purplish pink that tends towards garnet red. These flowers, smaller than average, enhance its wild and natural appearance.

Three varieties of ornamental garlics with purple flowers: Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’, Allium sphaerocephalon, and Allium atropurpureum

The hyacinth 'Woodstock', unique and original

Few hyacinths display a purple hue. It is safe to say that the ‘Woodstock’ variety is a true rarity with its star-shaped florets sporting a splendid pinkish-purple colour, enhanced by a darker heart. An enchanting colour that gives it a certain originality, even uniqueness. This oriental hyacinth variety offers very dense spikes, composed of small star-shaped flowers with a waxy and thick appearance. The flowering period lasts for 2 to 3 weeks, between the months of March and April.

Far from just offering an atypical colour, this hyacinth variety goes as far as perfuming the garden with a sweet scent, equally enchanting as its colour.

Paired with tulips featuring orange-yellow blooms, this hyacinth is sure to make a statement in your garden.

The ‘Woodstock’ hyacinth

The reticulate irises, with their delicate flowering.

Bulbous plant from the Iridaceae family, the **reticulate iris (_Iris reticulata_)** is certainly less spectacular than the large **garden irises (_Iris germanica_)**. However, it **holds its own with its long, tall stems on which wonderful flowers** bloom, composed of six tepals, with the inner three being upright. The three outer tepals are always speckled with yellow or white. This is the case with **the delicate flowers of the variety ‘Rejoice’**, which are an intense violet to dark purple, with lips marked with white spots and a central band of golden yellow. This flowering is slightly fragrant.

The variety **’Pauline’** closely resembles the ‘Rejoice’ variety with the purplish violet color of its flowers. However, it differs with white spots on the lips of the tepals, tinged with a very deep ink blue. A tiny hint of yellow can be glimpsed on the tepals. This variety displays extraordinary grace.

Lastly, let’s mention a true classic: **the variety ‘Spot On’**. This reticulate iris produces uniquely original flowers. Much slimmer than those of other irises, the flowers of ‘Spot On’ are mostly purple, but the horizontal sepals are speckled with white, with a black tip and indigo blue streaks. Particularly early, this reticulate iris blooms as early as February.

Three varieties of reticulate irises: ‘Rejoice’, ‘Pauline’, and ‘Spot On’

The Asian lily, a royal flower

Asian lilies proudly display themselves in florists’ shop windows, but they can also be perfectly planted in gardens where their exuberant and fragrant flowers work wonders. Especially since they offer often extraordinary shades, among which purple occupies a special place due to its rarity. So, while Asian lilies are not strictly speaking spring bulbs, as their flowers bloom in June and July, their presence in the garden erases any doubts.

Among the most remarkable varieties, the ‘Mapira’ hybrid attracts all eyes with its large flowers with shiny petals in a rich and deep burgundy purple, enhanced by a black heart and dark pink stamens, covered in orange pollen. Measuring 10 cm wide, these satin flowers, supported by strong stems, exhale a sweet fragrance. This easy-going lily naturalizes very quickly.

Also boasting sumptuous flowers, the ‘Royal Kiss’ variety is equally elegant. Regal even! This hybrid offers very dark flowers, but in the sun, they reveal their true nature. They actually bloom in a dark red-purple, punctuated with black and plum reflections, and a brick hue at the heart. When fully open, these flowers reveal purple stamens covered in orange-yellow pollen. These flowers are only slightly scented, but their beauty compensates for this lack of fragrance.

The ‘Mapira’ and ‘Royal Kiss’ varieties

The bulbous corydalis, a plant for partial shade

Tuberous corydalis grow quite logically from a bulb, unlike other corydalis. Rather vigorous, they develop very quickly to form pretty clusters in partial shade or even in shade, in an undergrowth. Standing 15 to 20 cm tall, they offer attractive finely cut foliage, quite similar to that of columbines, in a beautiful grey-green colour. As for the tubular flowers, curiously equipped with an upright spur, they are borne in clusters and come in shades of purple, pink, red, and white. This is why purple is present in corydalis through hybridization.

And the best representative is undoubtedly the ‘Purple Bird’ variety, which produces numerous flowers, grouped in compact and upright clusters, in an elegant purple colour, punctuated with a white throat. These small flowers are followed by fruit in the form of capsules. The flowers bloom between March and April, and in summer, the foliage disappears.

The tuberous corydalis variety ‘Purple Bird’

The florist's flower

Florists’ Ranunculus (Ranunculus asiaticus) display meticulously aesthetic flowerings. Very double, these flowers are composed of a profusion of tightly packed, delicate petals, forming a highly colourful ball. Rather plump, these flowers appear all frilly in the heart of spring, between March and May. Ideal when grown in borders or pots, florists’ ranunculus offer a compact and upright habit. Their flaw lies in their limited hardiness, but their abundant flowering easily compensates for their sensitivity to cold.

Among ranunculus, a hybrid sports magnificent double flowers in a purple hue. This is the charming variety ‘Vortex F1 Purple’ with a relatively early spring flowering. This variety produces a profusion of very full cup-shaped flowers, with diaphanous petals, tinted in a gradient of purplish violet, sprinkled with pink to mauve highlights.

As for the ‘Pauline Violet’ variety, in May-June, it displays splendid flowers measuring 3 to 5 cm in diameter in a very deep purplish violet shade. A marvel to grow in open ground in mild climate regions, or in pots elsewhere.

The splendid florists’ ranunculus ‘Pauline Violet’