Descriptive prose isn't just about the visual, it also can and often does describe your other senses as well. So, I don't think visualization is required to appreciate it. I didn't visualize the flathead biting Logan and both falling off the cliff, I felt it.

And, if by purple and flowery, you mean evocative use of adjective, adverb, and metaphor, prose can be an end onto itself, rather than functioning to paint a picture. It's more about the language than the reference. “The apartment below mine had the only balcony of the house. I saw a girl standing on it, completely submerged in the pool of autumn twilight. She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” You don't actually have to visualize the pool or the universe to appreciate the prose.