Gothic garden planning: 5 black blooms worth braving the sun for
Plants & Gardening
By
on February 06, 2012
25
Photo by Lynn_El. Used with permission.
Now, I know it's too late to plant tulips, but that doesn't stop me from fantasizing about these. They look dangerous and deadly and I looove them. They fill my mind with ideas, which is the storied power of a good garden.
Happily, the Black Parrot led me down a rabbit hole of other dark plants — the kind of vegetation that might convince even the palest of goths to slather on sunscreen and get into the garden.
Y'all ready for this?
Black hollyhock © by greengardenvienna, used under Creative Commons license.
Black hollyhocks! Oh! I have these in MY garden! Easy to grow, and once propagated need only a little attention — they're quite tall and often need staking.
Black Viola © by Just chaos, used under Creative Commons license.
Black violas are an easy-to-grow, small, beautiful, EDIBLE (!!!) flower, perfect for garnishing your black-hearted summer salads
Nemophila - snowstorm © by MShades, used under Creative Commons license.
The black Nemophila is a U.S.-native wildflower, beautifully black and white.
Not all of the above blooms would make it in a warmer climate (I'm a USDA Zone 5), so for those of you more interested in succulents, I have saved one of my favorite finds:
Black Succulent © by mikecogh, used under Creative Commons license.
The black rose tree. It looks like a sculptural interpretation of alien plants, and I LOVE it.
In the coming weeks you can also look forward to posts on carnivorous plants, night-bloomers, and more ideas for your offbeat garden.
Read more posts about: black, black and white, container gardens, gothic, houseplants, macabre« Previous post
About Cat Rocketship
I am the Managing Editor of Offbeat Home. I have a rich Internet life and also a pretty good real life. Hobbies include D&D, Twitter, and working on making our household more self-reliant. I also draw things.
mich said
Awesome!
And perfect timing.
We moved into our new house this weekend and as I was looking out of the window at our new garden I had a conversation with my husband about how I only wanted to plant black, red or white flowers in my new goth garden!
wispity said
Several varieties of black petunia came out last year, some with some white in them. Like most "black" flowers, vaguely purple, but still goth-y!
Jessica said
YAY!!!! Ripping out our front lawn this summer and doing a full out perennial/annual garden. I don't know how many of these will survive in cold ass Saskatchewan (Zone 2 – Zone 3), But I'm really hoping!!!
dootsiebug said
SO IN LOVE.
Actually, this post just reminded me that I bought "black tulips" from my godson during one of his school's fundraisers, and I never got them. HMMM
Julie said
Oh Cat, you always have a way of posting the most delightfully varied articles. If anyone wants to get fancy, the violas can be candied and used as cake/cupcake/ cookie decorations.Instructions here: http://www.funandfoodcafe.com/…cakes.html
Cat Rocketship said
Oh yummmmmmm!
Derek said
Fun Fact: Black Suculent smell vaguely like chocolate.
Cat Rocketship said
What! Too cool!
sonjiji said
For those in warmer climates there is also the Tacca Chantrieri aka The Black Bat Flower…
Jenna said
Hooray for upcoming carnivorous plant postings – these are my favorite plants to grow and I LOVE them. Can't wait to read more.
Bird said
Oh, aeoniums are so cool. They also come in a pink-tipped variety I love.
My favorite goth flower of all time is the Queen of the Night tulip though.
KathyRo said
Oooo I hope the Goth brides find their way over here from OBB. I bet having plants like these for their weddings would make their hearts sing.
Amanda said
Bearded irises come in black, too! I'm kind of a sucker for irises anyway, but the black ones always look super velvety-rich, and some smell like grape kool-aid. (Which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your childhood.)
Mishi said
I really want to grow some Snake's Head Fritillary in my garden, but I'm in the wrong climate. I do have Papa Meilland, Black Boy and Black Beauty roses, and they are just gorgeous.
Emily said
http://forums.gardenweb.com/fo…32296.html has a load of black flowers listed! I'm thinking about growing some of those black pansies, and maybe some nemophila, if they'll grow here in zone 9… I LOVE pansies, and the nemophila are CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE.
Heather said
The idea of it being "too late" to be planting tulips and other bulb plants is simply because the bulbs need to be cold and then "woken up" by spring coming. You can stick the bulbs in the freezer for a couple weeks (I've has success doing it only for a couple DAYS!) and then planting them when it's about time for them to "wake up."
Source: My great grandma. She tended to do this if we have winters like this one where nothing ever froze for very long, because she said that if the bulbs don't sleep deeply enough then they just don't wake up. She explained it as if you sleep deeply enough, you need fewer hours of sleep than if you slept less deeply but longer to get the same restfulness. Of course, if you let them sleep too deeply for too long, well, it's like how the longer you're in a coma the harder it is to wake you up. We had a pretty good success rate with planting bulbs in totally unacceptable time-frames and getting results, so it's worth a shot at any rate.
Jessica_Iowa said
Lovely, simply excited about future springs, I'm thrilled by those black violas!
Ivriniel said
Fun fact! In the Victorian period, hollyhocks were frequently planted to disguise a home's outhouse. So then when a guest wanted to use the outhouse, they would ask where the hollyhocks were, so they wouldn't have to directly reference something that was used for a bodily function.
Ali said
I am totally in LOVE with that black rose tree!!
Lynn said
Very cool article! I've long been a fan of 'black' flowers… and green flowers too. :^) Thank you for the photo credit. I'm glad you liked it.
deirdre said
I actually have a whole pinterest for black flowers-"Black Magic and prickly passions"-there are purples, maroons, chocolates.. wild purple vegis as well as some crazy primordial succulents in there! My favorite is the moon and stars watermelon
http://pinterest.com/misssalac…-passions/
Megan said
Thank you so much for this!
I've been wanting to do a red and black theme in our flower beds, but so far only have the red roses. I'm anything BUT a gardening expert, so i had no idea where to look for black blossoms.
These suggestions would be FABULOUS!
Cat Rocketship said
Oh man. It'll be so very Queen of Hearts!
Anna said
Keep in mind soil acidity will affect the color. In Idaho we cannot grow black plants- they never fail to grow a very obvious purple. My grandmother grew black tulips for years, always hoping it would change some spring.
Cat Rocketship said
Did not know this! I'd heard about it affecting hydrangeas, but that's all I knew about. Thanks!