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  • From: "Carol Wallace, Ph.D." <gardenwriter@mindspring.com>
  • To: gardenwriters-on-gardening <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [gwl-g] black and gold plants
  • Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 14:11:27 -0500

The easiest way to do a black garden of any kind is to concentrate on dark foliage and then fill in with flowers in the contrasting color. I like the dark Ipomoea because it can vine and twine throughout the bed and hide a lot of the green foliage. And, as someone else suggested,. black mondo grass looks convincingly black as well and would be great for the front of the border.

You might consider using Ipomoea batatas 'Blackie' or 'Ace of Spades' as a base and then gold flowers. And how about the very black Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic' in the background? Or Canna 'Australia'? And look for the "bishop" line of dahlias - there is one with 'black foliage' and gold flowers. 'Bishop of Oxford' is golden yellow' and 'Bishop of York' is more of a golden orange. I grew them last summer and they were stunning. Then look for some of the heucheras - 'Obsidian'' is the darkest one I've found. I've also successfully grown Cimicifuga 'Negligee' in sun and it was quite dark.

Check out Aquilegia 'Black Barlow' and some of the daylilies - 'Africa', 'Smith Brothers', 'Ed Murray', "Prince of Darkness' and 'Respighi' are all pretty dark. There are also many very, very dark irises, although they usually bloom the second year unless you can find a mature specimen.But most so-called black flowers are pretty clearly either maroon or dark purple. Viola 'Molly Sanderson' and a few others in the pansy family are close to black - probably the best bet.



nancy szerlag wrote:

Kate – Thompson and Morgan (WWW.thompson-morgan.com) has seeds for coleus s. ‘Palisandra.’ It’s nearly black Also look for thier Garnations ‘King of the Blacks.’ Black Mondo grass is another option. I understand there is also a new hybrid tea rose that is almost black in color. I don’t know the name offhand, but can get it for you if you are interested.

Best Nancy Szerlag
The Detroit News

The local football team has just won again and as this seems to be
a novelty in the area, I thought about doing a fans garden - ie
Black and Gold. The gold is really not a problem as marigolds,
calendulas and rudbeckias etc are in gold tones, but the black is.
I know that some pansies are black and they would work for early
spring, but what about the summer? Ideally I am looking for
annuals or first yr bloom perennials. Any suggestions?

Thank you
kate

Kate Copsey
Garden Writer
Herbs, Historic Gardens
Pittsburgh, PA

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