Whether purple is your favorite color or you simply want to spruce up your yard with a color symbolic of luxury, royalty, and elegance, planting a few purple shrubs is the way to go.
Shrubs offer a variety of landscaping uses.
You can use them to block your neighbor’s line of sight into your backyard, to create a privacy row, or to edge a walkway. They even make fantastic statement pieces or backdrops behind your flowerbeds!
Whatever the case might be, adding a few purple shrubs is a smart choice.
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Here are some of the 18 best purple flowering shrubs you should plant this spring.
1. Butterfly Bush
Hardy to zone 5, the butterfly bush will stay evergreen year-round if you live south of zone 8. This hardy shrub prefers well-draining soil and full sunlight. Plant one of these gorgeous shrubs in your backyard - which is a major attraction to butterflies and other pollinators - and you’ll be rewarded with gorgeous colors.
A variety of purple shades are available, including lilac and plum, with multiple flowers produced on spiked trusses. You don’t have to limit yourself just to purple, either - the butterfly bush can be found in multiple hues.
2. Abelia
Abelia is a flowering shrub that produces flower sun shades like pink, peach, and of course, purple. You’ll adore the purple blossoms that appear late in the spring, with their spicy-sweet fragrance, along with their colorful fall foliage. They also produce seed pods that will attract all kinds of birds and butterflies to your lawn.
There are several types of abelia you can grow, many of which are cold-hardy. It does well as a border planting or specimen - as long as you can enjoy its scented flowers! It’s hardy in zones 4 to 9.
3. Rhododendron
This purple shrub loves acidic soil and grows well in zones 4 to 9. There are plenty of options available - some rhododendrons grow more like trees, while others are shrub-like. You’ll want to choose a shorter rhododendron if you are in the market for a shrub. Tiny-leaved rhododendrons do best in full sun.
4. Golden Dewdrops
Despite the confusing moniker, golden dewdrops aren’t golden at all. In fact, they produce flowers in beautiful shades of purple. These plants can be grown as small plants in the northern growing zone, but when cultivated in zones warmer than zone 9, golden dewdrops will blossom into large, sprawling shrubs.
They can often reach more than 6 feet tall and wide!
For the best and most vibrant purple hues, plant your golden dewdrops in full sun. Partial shade is also tolerated.
5. Hydrangea
Hydrangeas can be found in all kinds of colors, but purple is one of the most striking shades available. You can grow this plant anywhere from zone 3 to 8. Choose a variety that is well-adapted to your growing zone. Although it will do well as a foundation shrub in a shady area of your yard, it will bloom more prolifically when it gets at least four hours of sunlight per day.
Make sure your soil is well-draining, too, as hydrangeas don’t like to have wet feet.
6. Bougainvilleas
A tropical vining shrub, bougainvilleas grow well in zones 9 to 11. Most of these shrubs have single blooms, but you can also purchase them with double blooms for double the color.
As a versatile shrub, the bougainvillea needs something to grow on, like a trellis.
7. Lilacs
Lilacs are adaptable and hardy plants, growing well from zone 3 to 9. This shrub requires minimal care and will reward you for your few efforts with fragrant purple flowers each spring. Some varieties go dormant in the winter, so it’s best to plant in the fall.
8. Weigela
Hardy in zones 3 to 8, weigela is a plant that does well as a border or specimen shrub. It blooms from mid-spring all the way into mid-fall, making it one of the most breathtaking and longest-lasting perennials you will find. It produces bright green variegated leaves and purple blossoms (although other colors are also available).
9. Azalea
The azalea is a plant of many colors, including red, white, orange, and yellow. However, lavender is one of the most popular colors. There are several purple azalea cultivars, including ‘Purple Gem,’ ‘Robles,’ ‘Bloom-a-Thon Lavender’, and ‘Conlee.’
10. Beautyberry
Although beautyberry is a shrub that technically produces white flowers in the late summer, what really will draw your attention is the purple berries that appear on the stems in the fall. There are many types of beautyberry that sport black-purple foliage, too, so you’ll be able to enjoy purple in many forms on this gorgeous shrub. It’s hardy in zones 5 to 8, with popular purple cultivars including ‘Purple Pearls’ and ‘Pearl Glam.’
11. Heather
Heather, not to be confused with winter heath (which looks quite similar to heather and is also purple) is a gorgeous look shrub that grows close to the ground. It will produce tons of light purple flowers for you and grows well in zones 5 to 8.
12. Lavender
Lavender is technically an herb, but it can also be cultivated to grow as a sub-shrub, too. This plant is beautiful and also has a variety of culinary and medicinal purposes. It produces plenty of blossoms first thing in the summer. It’s not only deer-resistant, but it’s drought-tolerant, too. IT has fragrant leaves and blossoms that will attract all kinds of visitors to your lawn!
13. Crape Myrtle
Cold-hardy to zone 7, crape myrtle is a plant that adores the heat. It can be grown in zones as cold as 5 as a woody sub-shrub but will produce the most prolific blooms in warmer growing zones.
No matter where you live, you’ll want to plant your crape myrtle in acidic soil and prune it back in half - this will enable the plant to push out more gorgeous blooms the following spring.
14. Caryopteris
Caryopteris is often referred to by names such as “bluebeard” and “blue mist,” but really, its color falls more between purple and blue. This flower has several varieties and is suited to zones 5 to 9. It blooms later in the summer so you’ll get color at a time of the year when color is sparse.
15. Rose of Sharon
Some cultivars of rose of sharon produce blue flowers under the right growing conditions. However, these “blue” bushes are often more purple than blue, with plenty of cultivars sporting gorgeous lavender shades. One of the best varieties you can choose is ‘Lavender Chiffon,’ which grows up to 12 feet in height and is hardy to zone 5.
16. Wisteria
One of the hallmark plants of the South, wisteria is usually grown as a vine. However, it can also be trained to grow as a shrub if you’re good about pruning it regularly.
This plant is worth a bit of extra maintenance, though, producing gorgeous racemes of breathtaking purple flowers. It grows well in zones 5 to 8.
17. Roses
Believe it or not, there are rose bushes with purple flowers, too! Despite their names, both Rosa Rhapsody in Blue and Rosa Midnight Blue actually push out purple blooms.
These rose bushes are highly fragrant and grow well in zones 6 to 10, with some plants sprawling to more than 4 feet wide and tall!
18. Russian Sage
Russian sage is the perfect shrub to grow as a flower border, producing multiple tiny lavender flowers. It has small, silvery leaves and is a great filler plant. It can be grown between plants that have large, showy flowers and blooms well throughout the summer months. It grows up to five feet tall and is hardy in zones 4 to 9.
Planting a shrub with purple flowers will draw a ton of attention to your lawn. You’ll be able to create a breathtaking statement piece or border that will allow you to enjoy your garden all season long.
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