Black has always been a hot—and reliable—hue (think little black dresses and black lacquered fingernails). But with a few exceptions—the black tulip being one of them—true black is pretty hard to achieve in flowers and foliage, so its rarity is part of its attraction. An upcoming book, Black Plants (Sept. '09), celebrates these striking and mysterious garden gems. The book profiles 75 sultry black perennials, annuals, bulbs, and shrubs—from pansies, coumbines, and sweet WIlliams to agapanthus, lilies, and even rare orchids from the Andes—all of which make a major statement in just about any landscape.
But did you know that in addition to black, you can acheive a similarly dramatic impact in your garden with brown, bronze, chocolate, burgundy, and purple-bronze metallics? Yep, they pack just as much drama, and can be even easier to attain. It's no surprise that these colors are joining black as the hot new trend in plant fashion.
Brown, no longer considered a drab plant choice, has been reinvented in the modern garden—especially when accented with more dramatic hues, such as purple (see the 'Bronze Wave' Coral Bells) or metallic copper and bronze (see the 'Bronze Sunset' iris). Even matte brown can draw a crowd if it's rich, like chocolate (see 'Chocolate Wings' rodgersia), or deep, like mahogany (try 'Tip Top Mahogany' nasturtium).
Dark, metallic foliage is often used as a foil for plants with white flowers or silvery white foliage, such as some salvias and artemisias. One of the most striking and frequently used combinations of metallics is purple with red, although this combination requires careful observation. Dark bronzey-purple to purple-black foliage can be used for a moody, dramatic effect when planted in a monochromatic color scheme with a variety of purple-flowered plants, from pale purple lilacs to deeply hued violets. A few plants with silvery foliage, like artemisia, can relieve the somber effect without jarring the senses.
Dark bronze, purple, and burgundy can look very effective together in combination with clear, true reds, like roses or gerbera daisies, but if the foliage is more of a coppery-bronze, it may be better to use rust or burnt orange—think chrysanthemums—instead of red. Then there's the combination of strong, red flowers and dark, purple to bronze foliage plants, which looks particularly nice with flamboyant, tropical plants—an increasingly popular trend. Pink flowers, from soft pink hyacinths to the bold purple coneflower, can work well with metallic foliage of just about any color.
Here are some suggestions for popular bronzes and other metallic plants for your garden:
- Bronze and metallic colors are found more often in foliage than in flowers. Sedums (also classified as Hylotelephium) are an exception, with the flowers of some cultivars turning dark purple or burgundy and gradually darkening to bronze. Dark foliage sedums include ‘Mohrchen’, ‘Atropurpureum’, ‘Hector’, ‘Arthur Branch’ and ‘Purple Emperor’, ‘Bon Bon’ and ‘Garnet Brocade’.
- Several perennials in dark brown or bronze colorations are attracting attention, including Actea racemosa (formerly Cimicifuga racemosa) 'Black Negligee', ‘Brunette’, 'Dark Star' and ‘Hillside Black Beauty’, Athyrium ‘Burgundy Lace’ and 'Pewter Lace', Ligularia dentata 'Britt-Marie Crawford', Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’ and Rodgersia ‘Chocolate Wings’. There are many bronze and metallic cultivars of the ground cover Ajuga, commonly known as carpet bugle. These include Ajuga pyramidalis ‘Metallica Crispa’ and A. reptans ‘Atropurpurea’, ‘Black Scallop’, ‘Bronze Beauty’, ‘Burgundy Glow’, ‘Catlin’s Giant’, ‘Chocolate Chip’, ‘Mahogany’ and ‘Rainbow’.
- Cranesbill geraniums with chocolate or metallic foliage include Geranium ‘Chocolate Candy’, ‘Elizabeth Ann’, ‘Espresso’, ‘Hocus Pocus’, ‘Midnight Reiter’, ‘New Dimension’ and ‘Victor Reiter, Jr.’
- Heuchera and ×Heucherella (hybrids of coral bells and foamy bells) probably have more ornamental metallic burgundy, bronze, silver and dark purple foliage cultivars than any other perennial. New cultivars seem to be introduced almost daily, so it is virtually impossible to put together a comprehensive list.
- Annuals and exotics with bronze, dark purple and metallic foliage can be found in abundance. The huge leaves of elephant ears (Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’, 'Illustris'), the spiky New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax 'Atropurpureum', ‘Chocolate’, ‘Bronze’, 'Bronze Baby', ‘Rubrum') are stunning in beds or containers.
- Cannas such as ‘Australia’, ‘Black Knight’, 'Pink Futurity', 'Red Futurity' and 'Rose Futurity', the huge metallic-red castor bean plant (Ricinus communis ‘Carmencita'), silvery-purple Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyeranus) and tropical rex begonias 'Benitochiba' and 'Fireworks' create a dramatic impact, as do other tender plants including the succulent Aeonium manriqueorum ‘Schwartzkopf’, the bulbous Eucomis comosa 'Oakhurst', the trailing Ipomoea batatus 'Blackie' and the herb bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare ‘Giant Bronze').
- An exciting new Dahlia cultivar, ‘Firemountain’, features bright red flowers that stand out vividly above dark bronze foliage. When you go to the garden center this summer, keep your eyes open for some of these stunning cultivars to add "Wow!" power to your garden design.
Adapted from an article by the author, which appeared in The Landscape Contractor magazine.
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