Black Plants
1. Frosted Purple Barberry, 2. Sambucas nigra – Black Lace, 3. IMG_5129, 4. Oxalis, 5. Black-Hollyhocks, 6. Bees will notice, 7. Helleborus16, 8. Cordyline australis ‘red sensation’, 9. Oxalis triangularis, 10. 27Paph.(Hsinying Web×Macabre) ‘Jamboree Black’, 11. Dark Sweet Potato, 12. Black Daylily, 13. Tulip, 14. Dahlia, 15. Black calyces
Black plants are fascinating to me. The color of death and dying is the antithesis of the green life of the garden. The black-ness of an eggplant (aubergine for you Brits) never seizes to amaze me, I truly could marvel at its blackness and lose minutes in the garden. I have always been fascinated with black plants – I even used them extensively in a show garden I designed for Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2002. (I know you have asked for pictures… I promise to someday show you…but they are on a defunct computer …and quite a project to retrieve).
Anyway, there are so many varieties and if you are interested in these dark beauties, there are some great places for inspiration. Flickr has a group for black plants that is populated with about 300 pictures; all the images above are from there. Additionally there is a new book, Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden
Nell Jean said,
November 5, 2009 @ 9:10 pm
Black plants are fashionable, aren’t they? I blogged about my own black plants last week. judywhite’s husband will be writing soon about another author of a book about black plants, I forget her name.
Dave Phelps said,
November 6, 2009 @ 2:21 am
I like the Sambucus ‘black lace’ the best. What a cool plant! I love putting these “black” plants right next to chartreuse and blue plants to really make the colors striking. Thanks for the pics, Susan!
felicity waters said,
November 6, 2009 @ 5:51 am
love it – will come back when i am in need of some black plants for my vertical gardens
dana said,
November 6, 2009 @ 8:04 am
The color of death…. lovely …I’m DarkLady,,,
ciao dana
Gwen Aldrich said,
November 9, 2009 @ 1:02 am
Makes my mouth water for some reason. I’m wondering if there is a cultivar name for the black looking purple barberry, or if it is a random barberry that looks black. There must be hundreds of barberrys.
louise garwood said,
November 11, 2009 @ 9:30 pm
Stunning mosaic of mysterious looking plants, Rochelle.
I particularly like the ephemeral foliage of the species of peony that is dark black/ purply-red as it breaks thru in the spring. Looks great with all the pastels and chartreuse. (P. mlokosewitchii, I think it is)
http://www.hillkeep.ca/images/Paeonia_mlokosewitschii_hybrid_red_IMGP0468x.jpg
Then the foliage greens up and flowers are single pale pink.
Re: plants and winter: some of your readers may be interested in therapeutic garden/herbal gardens- this blog is interesting and inspiring for you..
http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/2007/01/30/winter-flu-care-pink-ginger-tea/
enjoy!