The spikey purple thistle balls. And there are other purple thorns. The barkan, with its mauve fuzzy flower and thistles shining a brilliant lilac-silver in the sunlight. The purple eryngo.

Certainly, few seem to match the performance and considerable glory of the justifiably well-known purple-flowered Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ that is seldom out of flower. It would seem that ...

A careful searcher might find Purple Prairie Clover growing by itself ... “A lot of people want to put these in their flower gardens at the house,” explains George, “or for different seed ...

I am considering converting it to a wildflower garden ... in really frost-free gardens in southern Britain. Write to Thorny Problems at [email protected] or Gardening, The Daily Telegraph ...