A beach day in December, Nokomis, FL.

Plenty of purple:

Spiderwort

Balloon flower

Petunia

I have purple

I was working in the yard today. We don't yet have any purple flowers, but I saw Mr. Bitey out and about -- newly shed, and looking a shiny purple-black.

Is that a black racer? Isn't it amazing how they can climb vertical objects?
Marcia

It is an Eastern Rat Snake (which always used to be called a Black Rat Snake). I had never seen a snake climb like that, it was pretty amazing. In the third picture the blurry brown blotch in the background is my house.

We had a big black snake climb into a shrub several years ago. The only reason I saw it was because a pair of catbirds with a nest in the shrub started screeching. It was a big snake and I didn't want to handle it, so I sprayed it with the garden hose on full blast. The snake left the shrub and my husband took the snake for a walk into the woods (and let it go unharmed except for the cold shower). :)

Bob....that's a pretty cool looking snake ya got there! :0)