Black Petunias Put A Little Black Magic In Your Garden

You know what they say about a little black dress. Every woman needs one in her closet.  But black flowers in your garden?? Aren’t black blooms usually dead blooms?

Well, no! I found a basket of gorgeous, near-black petunias for sale the other day, and they were so velvety and unusual, I just had to bring them home. Mine are alive and doing well (so far). But it’s true that they aren’t completely black. It’s hard to find truly black plants, and many are just very deep, dark shades of purple, purple-red, or blue.

I’m telling you that, so when you look at the picture of my petunias, you won’t wonder what I’m talking about. That’s because my “black” petunias, when photographed in the sunlight, look purple.  But when the light is right, they’re dusky and mysterious and beautifully, velvet-black. Each bloom has a pale yellow star in its throat.

I haven’t had any luck finding the variety name, or I’d share it, but I found the plants at Home Depot on Douglas Boulevard, in Douglasville.

It’s possible that mine are ‘Pinstripe’ petunias; click here to see for yourself.  I don’t think I have ‘Phantom,’ which is sold by Burpee and other seed sellers and garden centers, because the yellow markings look too wide.  And here’s a really dark petunia called ‘Black Velvet’ that I’ve heard is hard to find, because it’s still relatively new (it was released in 2010), and in big demand. But I bet if you look around, you can find something similiar.

If a dip into the world of inky plants makes you yearn for more, check out a book called Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden, by Paul Bonine (Timber Press). The author covers black pansies, lilies, agapanthus, hollyhocks (like the ‘Black Watchman’ heirloom hollyhocks in my gardening book), and more, all of which might persuade you that black is the new green.

I’m not ready to convert my garden, with its springlike palette of pale blues, yellows, pinks, and rose-red, to all-black, but it’s fun to try something really different–and you know how we gardeners are. We always want someone to visit and ask, “Where did you get that?”

Lynn & Miss Paws

Lynn Coulter is the author of Gardening with Heirloom Seeds (UNC Press),

Mustard Seeds: Thoughts on the Nature of God and Faith (B&H Books), and

Little Mercies: Celebrating God's Everyday Grace & Goodness (B&H Books). She

lives with her family and rescue doggie, Miss Paws, in Douglas County.