Purple Passion

When we say we love or hate something "with a purple passion", what does that mean?   Although it indicates strong emotion, when I checked out purple on the color wheel, I did not find it a particularly passionate color.  It denotes royalty, wisdom, creativity, magic, and mystery, amongst other things.  I tried then to substitute the various connotative words for the word "purple".  Wise passion (no), creative passion (yes), magical passion (maybe), mysterious passion (?), royal passion. . . .  I liked "royal passion" best, as it sounds rather grand, so I looked up the word royal.  Merriam Webster offered an interesting variety of definitions -- the obvious being "of, relating to, or subject to the crown", the surprising " requiring no exertion", and the most useful for my purpose, "of superior size, magnitude, or quality" and "magnificent".  To love something and especially someone with a "magnificent passion" sounds good to me!

But this is not a romance novel!  This is about my magnificent purple blooms, although true they aren't particularly magnificent at the moment, nor do I have a particular passion for purple.  I like it, though, and certainly enjoy it in the garden.  Strolling amidst the various beds and blooms this morning, I somberly concluded that the gardener is equally to blame with the weather if certain plants aren't looking their best.  Yet most of our plants are well-chosen and finally well-placed and they are tough enough to bloom despite the heat, humidity, and negligent gardener (for shame).

First, the bluebells:

Then the ruellia:

Next verbena:

Duranta:

 

The salvia begins its comeback from a severe trimming:

 

 

And finally, Angelonia:

 

 



I feel that it's very appropriate to wish everyone a wonderfully purple week, a week that's wise, creative, magical, magnificent, with as much passion as you wish for!