Korean angelica
Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden
by Paul Bonine is the kind of book that drives me wild. Seventy-five gorgeous plants and over half of them are not hardy for me. Wait. Maybe it’s just that half of the ones I
want to grow aren’t hardy for me. I actually didn’t go through the book and count. At any rate, if you are a beginning cold climate gardener, stay away from this book. It will make you feel like there’s nothing you can grow in Zone 4.
Sooty sweet William
If you’re a veteran gardener who has earned her icicles, just be warned this book incites plant lust and empty-walletitis. (Hey, if Carol at May Dreams Gardens can
make up words, so can I.) Did you know there is a dark-foliaged rhododendron, ‘Ebony Pearl’? The color of its flowers is not even mentioned, but it is supposedly hardy to Zone 5. Maybe you knew about ‘Black Scallop’ ajuga, but I didn’t. (Its foliage is featured as the background image on the book’s cover.) I’d really love to grow the purple-leaved grape, but it’s only hardy to Zone 6. Sigh. And I wonder if
Trillium chloropetalum ‘Volcano’ would do well in my Northeast garden, since it is native to the Northwest of North America? It’s hardy to Zone 5, but not all trilliums do well in other parts of the continent. These are the kinds of thoughts this book inspires.
Black pansy
There are no sources listed for any of these plants; you’ll have to hunt them down on your own. In some cases I thought the hardiness zone was a bit optimistic; Voodoo Lily in Zone 5? And the dahlias were rated as Zone 8, but if you grow them as annuals it doesn’t matter. (There are other plants listed as annuals, so I guess some people grow dahlias as perennials?) With a stack of catalogs at your feet and a cup of something warm by your side, this book is a fine accessory to the winter garden dreaming we do when it’s snowing outside, which, this winter, applies to more southern gardeners than I ever would have imagined.
The three flowers pictured all grew in my garden this summer and are featured in Black Plants. (Click on any of the images to see a larger image.) Timber Press sent me a complimentary copy to review.
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sweet william,
trilliums
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Kathy, for years in my Zone 4 South Dakota Garden, I grew Black Hollyhocks. They were striking growing next to Black Eyed Susans. But, I admit they did look a bit “gothic”
Yes, black hollyhocks were one of the plants in this book that I could grow–if I wanted to. I would like to find seed for a single red hollyhock. So far I have only found red included in a mixture. I don’t want a mixture, I just want red!
Ahh the tribulations of living where winter really is winter . It is so frustrating sometimes when they tell you it will be hardy where you live and the cold proves them wrong. I swear half the time, they stretch the limits so more people will try them.
That is why I recommend this book for veteran gardeners, who will have a better idea of what they can get away with and who will view a dead plant as a lesson learned and experience gained, and not as a catastrophe or a failure on their part.
Twitter: @clayanlimestone
I thoroughly enjoyed your review Kathy. The words~Tolerates shade plant in moist, well draining soil~ make me pull my hair and scream! Seriously…what about dry shade under canopy trees! As dee said, “I feel your pain”. Love the black pansy…gail
I’ve seen books about white flowers/gardens… but not black. Verry cool…
Twitter: @robinripley
Looks like a great book for the garden bookshelf. Although I enjoy the aesthetic idea of black flowers/plants, I’m afraid they would get lost here. I am trying to add color at this point–particularly in the shadier parts of the garden on the north side of the house.
Robin Ripley
Twitter: @suburbangarden
I don’t suppose the book offered any tips on how to use black plants in the garden, where they often create the “black hole effect” and disappear into the background?
You would find the occasional tip, but it wasn’t a systematic part of the book.
Ebony Pearl? I want to look at it! We live in a rhododendron kingdom, and it should grow here. But a black pansy…. I might stick to colorful ones. Thanks for your review.
My black pansy was part of a mix. I think it works better with a contrasting color.
Ever since my mom was given an amazing near-black iris, I’ve always loved the dark plants. @Karen, I saw a very good-looking one, ‘Before the Storm,’ in the High Country Gardens catalog filed in the Xeric perennials. I empathize with Kathy and all the commenters on falling in love with a plant you can’t grow. One day I’ll live somewhere I can have a Vitex tree…
Thank you for the review. Love the dark dianthus! I find uses for darkest purples and maroons. My black violas from seed were beautiful, but looked like black holes without proper companions to accompany. Does the book address how darks are enchanced by the use of other plants?
‘Black Pearl’ ornamental peppers make a great annual for the flower garden, with its black leaves, purple blossoms and black fruits. Be aware the fruits turn red when ripe.
Twitter: @Indygardener
That’s a good made up word, actually phrase. Our wallets do suffer from many ailments, brought about by gardening. Good book review, too.
Twitter: @HelenYoest
Excellent review and so good that is was done for your readers in cold climate. I have no desire to grow black plants, thus the title never spoke to me. We are in a zone 7b, so I suspect there may be more that I can grow, and would be curious to know that, at lease. H.
This kind of book exasperates me. I got a copy too, but after perusing all the plants that I can never grow (or even find for sale), I put it aside. I stick with regional books about plants. Window shopping is only fun for me if I know I can step inside the store if I want.
But perhaps this book, published last fall, was a Halloween gimmick?
This is the second time I’ve heard that book mentioned. I searched for a true black iris for years, still looking. Love the pansy and that hellebore on the cover is going to bust a lot of wallets, I bet! Trilliums are hard to grow sometimes even in the NW, as are many plants that require replication of forest floor conditions to thrive. I saw a lot of another dark-foliage rhodie, PJM, at the NW Flower & Garden show last week. It’s dark purple, not true black, but is tried and true in our climate… wonder if it’s hardy in yours?
Twitter: @reddirtramblin
Kathy, what a great review of this book. I can’t grow the rhodie cause it’s too hot in Oklahoma, and our soil is alkaline, so I feel your pain. It seems like any book that is one size fits all, doesn’t fit many of us.
~~Dee