Purple is not a very common color in nature. At least, that's what I thought. But when I was searching through my photo archive for photos with something purple for this weeks Qurator photo Quest, I actually found dozens of photos with something purple on it (albeit mostly flowers).

I live in the flower region in The Netherlands. Where I live are a lot of flower farms. These farmers have huge fields full of flowers every spring which attract a lot of tourists from all over the world. Most people come to see the famous Dutch tulips, but a bit earlier in spring, the hyacinths bloom. In contrast to tulips, hyacinths have a strong, sweet fragrance. I often go for a bicycle ride through the flower fields during the 'flower season' and love passing the hyacinths. Both for the nice bright colors, like these purple ones as for the smell of them.

This is the entry for the @Qurator Photo Quest for this week.

Another, more peculiar flower is this bearded iris. It has an interesting shape and the color combination of this one; purple and yellow is an unusual one.

In a few nature reserves in The Netherlands we have fields of heather. It's a lovely plant that turns purple in August/September. Than is the time to go to the fields of wild heather because they are all purple then.

The picture above was taken on a bright day, but it wasn't at a large field. I visited a large field once, but it was a bit of a gloomy day, so you can't really see the purple color (and I don't want to fake it in post editing 😂).

Other nice purple flowers are these crocuses. Crocuses are one of the earliest flowers to appear after winter. For me these colorful flowers are the sign that spring is arriving. It makes me happy to spot them after long, cold winters.

This plant is a Ceanothus. It's located in my backyard. It has grown quite big over the years and turns in a beautiful purple 'cloud' in May. It attracts loads of bees as well.