Do you love purple? Discover the most beautiful plants with purple leaves to decorate your home with

Regular plants typically have green leaves which turn yellow, orange or red in autumn, right? Well... not always! There are a few splendid varieties of plants with purple or deep violet foliage. 

Below, we show you 5 of the most popular plants of this nature which you can consider decorating your home with!

Gynura aurantiaca

Purple velvet: this is what you think of when looking at Gynura aurantiaca, a plant with leaves with jagged edges (which are actually green but covered with thick purple hair). The color contrast is even more pronounced when this plant's orange flowers emerge. It is an evergreen, herbaceous, sarmentous plant, so it will need to be supported the branches grow longer. It does not like temperatures below 10°C.

Tradescantia pallida 'Purpurea'

This plant - aka the Purple Heat Plant - is part of the Tradescantiae family, of which perhaps the most well know is "misery grass". These are considered weeds, but due to their rapid growth rate and ease of propogation, they make excellent ground cover for bare spots in the garden.

Purple Hearts are very robust plants and can tolerate the cold and periods of drought - which is why they also do well outdoors. In the home, however, they can still be a beautiful display, especially the purple or variegated specimens. So, don't miss out on the beauty of this plant!

Oxalis triangularis

This plant is a clover, but has deep purple leaves and adorable little flowers in a very pale pink: the oxalis triangularis are truly irresistible. Oxalis comes in small bulbs, to be grown indoors or outdoors. They enjoy partial shade and should not be exposed to direct sunlight. Incredibly decorative, they look beautiful as a thick bush in pots!

Purple basil (Ocimum basilicum var. purpurascens)

Beautiful and also tasty! Just like regular basil, purple basil is also edible, and the flavor is unmistakable. It follows the same cultivation rules as regular basil (although perhaps it prefers a little more shade during the day). There are also flavored varieties, like the one that has hints of cinnamon! This plant is beautiful by itself, or when grown together with other basil varieties. So in addition to decorating, it can be used in the kitchen!

Loropetalum

Native to China, Korea and Japan, Loropetalum is actually an evergreen shrub, with beautiful dark purple foliage and fetching "fringe" flowers that look like small fireworks going off. In pots, after a few years, it will be a bit cramped in the house and will need to be transplanted to larger containers on the balcony or, better still, in the open ground in the garden. It can tolerate the cold and can be grown in partial shade (although it flowers better with a little extra sun, but not too much!).