Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the purple-ist rose of all? My rose garden was deliciously purple last week, plenty of purple pulchritude (I always wanted to use that word) to lure me down into the garden for a closer view of the sumptuous rich colors.
I'll present each in turn, but how better to start than with
'Basye's Purple'? I probably shouldn't play favorites right away, but this year, 'Basye's Purple Rose' is the best, in my opinion, of my purples. 'Cardinal de Richelieu' might have given it a run for it's money, but my 'Cardinal' is a year-old rooted cutting that only had two blooms this year, my former one perplexingly perishing several years ago. Like-wise, 'Purple Pavement' didn't bloom well yet this year, though I have comeback hopes for that repeat-bloomer. For now, however, it's 'Basye's Purple', a thorny mass of a bush with very thick and spiny stems that has captured center stage. Those large, single blooms covered the bush this year, deeply velvet and brooding among the clean foliage. Thankfully, unlike many of the other dark roses on this page, the petals of 'Basye's Purple Rose' seem impervious to the hot sun, only the golden stamens fading slowly as they age.
'Charles de Mills' is not really so purple in my garden, but this flat-formed, short, suckering Gallica has some purple tones and its color deepens with age. My 'Charles de Mills' grows more as a thicket of blooms than a rose bush, but it persists and pushes forth blossoms even in the worst springs. The heady fragrance can be sampled without bending down to the rose, and it is so packed full of petals that I'll give it a pass for being more red than purple. I was most chagrined, writing this, to find that I've never featured 'Charles de Mills' in this blog so you'll see that my links here don't go back to Garden Musings. I think I'm too late in it's bloom cycle to get some nice pictures of the "thicket" this year, but I'll keep it in mind for next year.
Another purplish Hybrid Perpetual,
'La Reine' has been in my garden for almost a decade and it has been a trouble-free, if perhaps only mildly interesting, bush. It requires little or no extra care and has been free of Rose Rosette disease despite it's placement next to my ailing and super-affected 'American Pillar'. The violet blooms are fragile, almost dainty, but it's exposure is primarily to morning sun so it doesn't suffer from the hot afternoon sun.
I raved last year about my young deep purple Gallica
'Orpheline de Juliet', and this year's display was no different. Those purple buttons are just jewels against the lighter green matte foliage of this rose and the fragrance is, yes, "to die for." I simply don't understand yet why this rose isn't more widely grown because it was a fabulous addition to my garden.
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Souvenir du Docteur Jamain' has become one of my favorite old garden roses, and is one of the only Hybrid Perpetuals I've found to be healthy and unfailingly hardy in my garden. I can count on it for a nicely presented spring bloom, although I question how "perpetual" it is; followup blooms are rare in my garden. It's deeply scented and has a nice vase-like form, and is completely sans thorns so that I can bring those blossoms inside with a risk of bloodshed.
'Tuscany Superb' is a delicious deep purple in my garden, but I have yet to decide if this old Gallica is going to survive Kansas. My original plant struggles, a bare couple of feet high and of straggly form. It has provided only a handful of blooms each of the 8 years it has lived in my garden and always looks on the verge of perishing, although it has suckered about three feet away into another small struggling bush. I love the color, but the blooms only last a day in the full Kansas sun before they shrivel into blackness.
So, which is your favorite? Do you agree, with me, that Dr. Robert Basye's creation is the winner? Is 'Orpheline de Juliet' in the running? The Gallicas and Hybrid Perpetuals have their fair share of mauve-purple hues, but most are vulnerable to the sun and lack stature. In fact, writing this, I'm struck that helpmefind.com/roses lists several of those roses as 3'-5' while they struggle to reach even three feet tall here in Kansas. 'Orpheline' is pretty in the garden, in a squat sort of way. Who does the mirror choose as the most scrumptiously purple? Who might get a chance in your garden?
All right, that's enough! ProfessorRoush has let this go on far too long. 
I thought it was bad enough when I spied one little rabbit in my front landscaping. Then a few weeks later, Bella was staring out the window, watching it play right on the front porch.
But, wait, I'm seeing double now! Two rabbits? I shudder to think what they're nibbling on deep in my perennial beds. (this one might move if you click on it...I forgot and the camera was on "Live").
Bella, get to work! They're breeding like....bunnies!
This 'Kaveri' lily, an Oriental-Asiatic cross I've had in the garden for 5 years. She's tough, about 3 foot tall, and blooms her head off. I've got several clumps and comes back year after year. She just started to bloom, a little later than the Asiatics, a little earlier than the Oriental and Orientpet lilies. 
These perennial sweet peas have never climbed and covered this makeshift trellis as I envisioned for them, but they bloom a nice happy shade of pink in the down season between the first bloom of the roses and the blitzkrieg of the daylilies.
I didn't plan this combination of daylily and 'Tiger Eye's sumac, but the momma sumac seven feet away suckered over next to the daylily and embraced it. This is one of those fortuitous moments in a gardener's life that won't ever repeat, because next year this baby sumac will be too big to allow it to stay here.
Another great combination provided by the wiles of fate, this grouping of orange Asclepias tuberosa, yellow-orange Black-Eyed Susan, and the young blood-red Hollyhock all self-seeded themselves to this spot; two natives and a cultivated garden escapee. The only thing I planted in this picture was the low-growing yellow barberry, 'Gold Nugget' which has been there for years.
