Inspired by Mr. Brown Thumb’s black garden (that stumbled upon recently), I came up with these plants that are easy to grow in a container and feature black leaves or flowers. To be clear, “black” when it comes to plants usually means very dark purple or red, sometimes a very dark chocolate.
Photo by van swearingen
Ornamental Plants
- Aeonium – ‘Zwartkop’
- Celosia – ‘China Town’
- Oxalis – Oxalis regnelli atropurpurea, Oxalis triangularis, ‘Charmed Wine’
- Calla Lillies – ‘Blackjack,’ ‘Hot Chocolate,’ ‘Black Forest,’ ‘Black Pearl,’ ‘Midnight Eclipse,’ and ‘Edge of Night’
- Canna – ‘Australia,’ and ‘Tropicanna Black’
- Coleus – ‘Inky Fingers,’ ‘Black Dragon,’ ‘Chocolate Mint,’ ‘Dark Chocolate’
- Cosmos – ‘Chocolate’
- Cranesbill – ‘Cheryll’s Shadow’
- Bachelor’s Button – Black Magic and Black Boy
- Elephant’s Ear – ‘Black Magic,’
- Huechera – ‘Black Beauty,’ ‘Chocolate Veil’, ‘Obsidian,’ ‘Plum Pudding,’ ‘Blackout,’ and ‘Velvet Night’
- Bugleweed – ‘Black Scallop,’ ‘Mahogany’
- Geranium – ‘Dark Lord,’ ‘Espresso,’ ‘Midnight Reiter,’ and ‘Samobor’
- Iris – ‘Black Knight,’ ‘Black Swan’, ‘Old Black Magic’, ‘Ruby Chimes’, ‘Before the Storm,’ and ‘Superstition’
- Dahlia – ‘Happy Single’ series, ‘Bishop of Llandaff,’ and ‘Fascination’
- Scabiosa – ‘Ace of Spades,’ and ‘Chile Black’
- Sunflower – ‘Moulin Rouge’
- Sweet Peas – ‘Black Knight,’ and ‘Wiltshire Ripple’
- Sweet Potato Vine – ‘Blackie,’ ‘Sidekick Black Heart,’ and ‘Sweet Caroline’
- Violas – ‘Black Magic,’ ‘Bowles Black,’ and ‘Molly Sanderson’
Edible Plants
- Cabbage – ‘January King’
- Eggplant – ‘Black Beauty,’
- Kale – ‘Black Tuscany,’ ‘Cavolo Nero’
- Lettuce – ‘Lollo Rossa, ‘Merlot,’ ‘Really Red Deer Tongue,’ ‘Majesty,’ ‘Marshall,’ and ‘Blackhawk’
- Tomatoes – ‘Black’, ‘Black Cherry’, and ‘Black Plum’
- Basil – ‘Dark Opal, ‘Purple Ruffles,’ ‘Red Rubin,’ ‘Osmin Purple,’
- Radish – ‘Black Spanish’
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‘Inky Fingers’ Coleus
Black Radishes
Sweet Potato Vine ‘Blackie’
‘Purple Ruffles’ Basil
Sunflower ‘Moulin Rouge’
‘January King’ Cabbage
Dahlia ‘Happy Single Party’
Iris ‘Before the Storm’
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Awesome indeed.
Purple Oxalis is my favorite! I had a great success with it last year. Low maintenance and it has beautiful pink flowers.
Beautiful! I’m in love with black clover right now – which is actually a cultivar of white clover (because the flowers are white, as opposed to purple?), not a species unto itself. Google “Dark Dancer Clover” or “trifolium repens atropurpureum” (its fancy name).
Might make an intriguing “underlayer” in a container!
Black plants? A woman after my heart… I had an Aeonium‘Zwartkop.’ I planted the poor thing in the wrong spot. It was a pricey mistake.
I also planted a Dahlia ‘Happy Single Party.’ Gawd I love that name! What do you do after it dies? I yanked it out. Should I had cut it down?
Is Coleus a shade plant? I think it’ll look b*tchin’ commingling with the lettuce and cauliflower in the shade garden.
Thanks Fern! I’m going to incorporate A LOT of these plants into my landscape and thank you for reminding me of Mr. Brown’s Thumb. I used to follow his blog…
These are awesome, Fern. I’m planting a few of these this year because my garden theme is Prince (as in “When Doves Cry”). I’ve ordered both the Purple Ruffles and Black Opal Basil. I had the gorgeous Black Cherry sunflower last year as well as Moulin Rouge in a sunflower mix I planted so I hope to get those again. That sweet potato vine – wow! I gott have it.
Heh-heh – Awesome resource, Fern. I have been stockpiling Goth Gardening lists for some time and you’ve got a few totally new ones for me here. Many thanks!
Beautiful pics. I especially liked the iris,’before the storm.’ I couldn’t get the link to mr brown thumb to work though.
Louise — I totally thought of you when I was looking for black oxalis varieties!
Jennifer — Dark Dancer is gorgeous. It reminds me of a Scented Geranium I recently purchase
Adriana — I have a black plant container garden in my eBook. I think I’ll post another idea tomorrow. Black plants are a lot of fun to work with because they’re drama on steroids.
I tossed my Dahlia when it was done for the season too (that’s actually a picture of my plant). I think they grow from rhyzomes that you can dig up and save for next year, but that seemed like too much work for me at the time. I am kind of kicking myself now though.
Coleus would look awesome with lettuce. Some of the newer varieties can tolerate partial sun, but they’re really happiest in the shade.
Jen–I can’t wait to see photos of your garden. It sounds awesome!
Gen — I would love to see your goth garden lists. I bet Adriana would like to see them too.
Roberta/Mom–Isn’t that Iris stunning? I fixed the link. Thanks for the heads up.
Here’s another black plant not mentioned: http://www.usna.usda.gov/Research/BlackPearl.html. I met the scientist who created it at the USDA. He was working on creating other peppers both ornamental and edible.
Do you have a link to your ebook?
Jess–Wow. That is probably the blackest plant I’ve ever seen. How cool that you met the guy who created it.
GeorgyGirl–I’m not done with it yet. I’m publishing it on April 22.
Fern- I had a big beautiful Aeonium, and I killed it. Sadly, I need all dark succulent plants, or anything that would not need much water at all. I could not figure out for the life of me, how to save that thing.
I posted a couple of potted plants on my blog today with you in mind!!!
Any ideas what the plant in this picture is? The one shown behind the blue lobelia? I kind of like it as a backdrop for the lobelia!
sdat–It looks like a black sweet potato vine. There are several varieties such as ‘Blackie’ or ‘Sweet Caroline.’ I think the one in your picture is ‘Sidekick Black Heart’ though.
Thank you!!! I saw some similar black leaved plants at the nursery yesterday, but not this one. I’ll ask about it now that I know its name.
Lovely! I especially like the inclusion of black radishes – here’s to black plants both above and below ground.
Excellent article on black foliage plants, love the Aeonium keep up the great work Fern!
Watch out for Phormium Black Adder and Ceanothus Tuxedo two new Black plants in USA right now. Tuxedo has powder blue flower and Black Adder a wonderful glossy strappy foliage.
Ceanothus Tuxedo.
http://fitzgeraldnurseries.blogspot.com/2009/06/our-new-ceanothus.html
Phormium Black Adder
http://www.myplant.ie/plant.php?id=21&title=New+Zealand+Flax
I love doing containers using ‘black’ plants. Black mondo grass is one of my favorites for mixing. This year I did a pot of the black mondo grass by itself, and I’m bringing it in for the winter. It’s not supposed to be hardy here, but I’ve had good luck with it in the ground,too, mixed with yellow and silver ground covers. Is there a place to share photos?
Forgot to mention, I came across this nursery online this year. I haven’t done any business with them yet, but their plant photos look gorgeous. It’s called the Chocolate Flower Farm, and their store’s theme is chocolate: http://www.chocolateflowerfarm.com/plants1
Also, I love the photo of the Aeonium, and immediately looked for a supplier. It’s now on my wishlist for next spring. Thanks.
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