The colours in the backyard shifted over the past week, and we returned to find an abundance of “purple” scattered throughout the garden [though technically, these asters are light blue] and the colour has proved surprisingly controversial to some!

This controversy led to some googling and a deeper understanding more about the colour purple. It is a fascinating colour because, unlike red, green, and blue, it doesn’t correspond to a specific wavelength of light. Instead, it exists as an “extra-spectral” colour, created by our brains when both red and blue light are present. Since purple has no distinct place on the visible spectrum, it is more of a perception than a fundamental wavelength, making it a unique and somewhat mysterious part of our visual experience.

Because our perception of purple relies on how our brains interpret mixed wavelengths, the way we see a flower’s hue can vary depending on lighting, individual vision, and even cultural naming conventions. Some flowers, like certain asters, reflect a combination of blue and red light, appearing purplish to some while others see them as pale blue. This highlights that colour is not just a matter of physics but also perception, interpretation, and even language. It’s a good reminder of how differently we all see and perceive things to be.

To me there is something wonderfully whimsical about these “purple” asters, like they’re straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. Their bright, spiky petals splay out in all directions, as if they’ve burst to life in a playful explosion of colour and they have an animated, slightly untamed look and it is as if they belong in one of his storybook’s rather than our backyard garden.

Technology enables me to quickly reimagine these playful “purple” flowers with a blue hue, offering a glimpse of how they might appear to someone else. Even then, it’s only a possible glimpse and guess.

I think I prefer them as they appear in my mind’s version of “purple”…

From beneath the canopy,

🌻 Issy