Gray and Purple New Year

The New Year begins, but the continuing gray and cold weather reminds me that there is a long winter yet ahead.  I know I am supposed to be looking at the "bones" of the garden, those parts that continue throughout the year providing it structure.  I look at what is visible on a dreary day, and consider it fairly successful.  But that is not enough.  What colors can I find?

Purple, though not in vast sweeps or brilliant hues.  For one thing, there is the dark purple leaved Ajuga reptans, 'Black Scallop.'  As usual, nurseries like to convince the public that very dark purples are supposed to be black, hence the name for this dark beauty.  Growing in the shade under some tall pencil hollies, these would disappear if they really were black.  But the deep, blackberry purple color is very appealing when all around it is gray.

This Ranuculus ficara, 'Brazen Hussy" is often described with black foliage.  Fortunately it is much more interesting than that, with mottled green and purple, and bright green stems.  I originally chose this because the dark leaves set off brilliant yellow flowers when little else is blooming.  But now I know the leaves provide an early and pleasant surprise.  That is, if some small creature doesn't nibble them off like last spring!  It continues to be a challenge to find plants that don't provide unintended food for the wildlife.  Yes, I could cover it with wire, but there would be a view of the armor rather than the leaves.

So the third bit of purple, though technically a lavender, is provided by the Thymus vulgaris 'Argenteus.'  Its normal summertime feature is the white edging on the leaves, in contrast to the gray thyme or yellow-green of the lemon thyme.  That all changes in the winter when the cold brings out this soft pinkish-lavender color.  I wanted to verify I had the right variety name, but none of the online nursery sites talked about this characteristic.  All of my notes confirm these plants are Argenteus, so there you are!  I won't claim to be the first to notice it, but in case anyone cares, this is something you will never know about when you buy your plants in the spring or summer.

The Penstemon also has nice, dark maroon/purple and green leaves, but nothing that looked like much in a photograph.  So that is all for now, though I will continue to search for more colors among the gray.