Add depth to your garden’s color black flowers and leaves

 Add drama with black flowers and leaves

Black is serious and very chic! It's tough and modern and goes fearlessly into the garden. Black flowers and green plants have the ability to change the effect of your entire garden. Want to cool down warm colors? How to warm up cool colors? Black flowers and foliage may be the answer. Add sophistication to the garden with this moody shade. Scroll through for some design tips for dark flowers and foliage. In the world of fashion, black also works in the garden. It is a basic color, a neutral that works well with all other colors. Because it's not as common in gardens as it is in most closets, the black flowers and foliage add unexpected drama to the landscape. Just like purples, blues and other colors for your garden, there are variations in shades and hues. Combine several black-headed plants with different leaf sizes and textures for an unusual and sophisticated composition.

1. Black Velvet Petunia (Petunia)

Petunias do best in containers – add a slow-release fertilizer when planting and a water-soluble fertilizer like Miracle-Gro every week during the summer for more blooms. Lightly prune the backstems in mid-summer to help Black Velvet Petunia maintain its mounding habit.

Tender perennial (usually grown as an annual) flowers deep purple-black in mid to frost light full sun Size 8 to 12 inches. Height and width Hardiness is hardy in USDA zones 10 through 11

2. 'Blacknight' Hollyhock (Alcia rosea)

Single-style red almost black flowers form each tall flower spike reaching up to 6 feet tall. This series of Hollyhock is truly perennial; First-year performance flowers bloom reliably. Works well at the back of a border or along a fence.

Type Perennial Flowers 4-in. Red-black flowers in summer, this variety is perennial, not biennial like other hollyhocks, light full sun Size 60 to 72 inches tall, 18 to 24 inches. It is hardy in USDA zones 3 through 9

3. 'Nicrescens' Black Manto Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus)

The dark blades of black mondo grass make a great contrast in containers and create a bold edge in any border when spreading slowly. Light pink bell-shaped flowers bloom on dark stems in late summer, while dark purple berries add interest in fall. Be sure to keep it well watered, especially in the heat.

Type Perennial Flowers pale pink in summer, dark purple berries in fall, dark purple black foliage Light Full sun to part shade Size 5 to 7 inches tall, 10 to 12 inches. Width Hardiness Cold-hardy USDA zones 6 through 10

4. 'Black Devil' Pansy (Viola)

Like all pansies, 'Black Devil' grows best in cool weather. Dead flowers will keep blooming as long as possible. In cold hardiness zones, adding a layer of mulch over the winter can improve its survival.

Tender perennial (usually grown as an annual) flowers are pink and satin black with small yellow-orange centers in autumn. Up to 8

5. Sweet Caroline's Sweetheart Jet Black Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea patatas)

This purple sweet potato vine makes a bold impact in your containers and hanging baskets or as a ground cover at the front of your borders! It grows in sunny or shady places. It grows vigorously, but the vines can be trimmed at any time.

Tender perennial (usually grown as an annual) Evergreen heart-shaped deep purple-black Light Full sun to part shade Size 6 to 16 inches tall, 20 to 36 inches wide, Cold hardiness in USDA zones 8 to 11

6. Japanese Cobra Lily (Arisema chikogianum)

The dramatic-looking Japanese cobra lily, a relative of the American native jack-in-the-billpit, adds lots of color to the garden with white and purple flowers that turn into bright orange seed heads in fall. They can eagerly reseed, forming a small colony waiting to be discovered each spring.

Type Bulbous white spring flowers surrounded by dark purple that turn to reddish-orange seed pods in early fall Size 12 to 20 inches in light to full shade. Height, 12 to 20 inches. It is hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9

7. 'Black Barlow' Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris stellata)

Columbine is an easy-to-grow perennial and often self-seeds in the garden. It makes a wonderful companion to bulbs in late spring. Keep the soil on the dry side – too much water can start root rot, and plants often won't survive the winter in wet soil. It makes a great cut flower.

Type Perennial Flowers double, erect, 24 to 30 inches tall, black flowers 24 to 30 inches.