MAGENTA POWER
The lady who lived in this house before us must have had a penchant for magenta and purple flowers. Mostly the yard is planted with trees and leafy shrubs, but the few flowering plants she left sport either purple or magenta blossoms. I wonder if it was a real aesthetic choice, or if purple blossoming plants are hardier in some (genetic) way, and so these are the ones which have survived over time?

Certainly, many of the serious gardeners I know look down upon this intense magenta coloring, preferring subtler shades of peach and cream (I am partial to a nice salmon-color, myself.) And of course, the Vita Sackville-West influenced pinnacle of good taste: the pure white blossom. I can't help but wonder if the disfavor for the hardy, magenta-blooming plants stems mainly from the human desire for interfering with nature. Which color, for instance, is more attractive to a bee?