Well, not so lovely. It's sea-lavender (Limonium species). Found in salt marshes. Smells like it too, I recall from when we'd bring some home in late summer when I was kid.
Below, Salicornia (pickleweed, saltwort, glasswort) also adds color to the autumn saltmarsh. Here it is in late August, just starting to turn red. [Huh, who knew? It's a flowering plant. Not that it has flowers that you'd notice, but the wildflower book says it does have 'em. The succulent nature of the plant is a mechanism it uses to deal with living in a high-salinity environment.]
