41 Black Flowers & Plants

Black flowers and black plants lend an air of mystery to your garden. Combined with other colors, they can create dramatic backdrops or add surprising accents. Use black flowers in a gothic garden design, let them complement flowers to grow in fall or try dark flowers like pansies with other plants that bloom in winter.

'Diablo' ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius), pictured here, is a multi-stemmed shrub that flowers in late spring or early summer and drops its dark purple leaves in winter. It offers year-round interest, thanks to its handsome, peeling bark. Hardy in Zones 3 to 7, it's an ideal gothic plant.

For a true black bloomer, it’s tough to beat the 'Black Delight' viola. These inky black blooms are a great choice for cool-season plantings in beds or pots and may flower all winter long in mild regions.

Dress your landscape in dark hues with the deep plum leaves of 'Twilight Magic' crape myrtle. Pink flowers appear from midsummer to fall, creating a striking contrast with the near-black leaves. Use this plant as a replacement for disease-prone purple leaf plums. Hardy in Zones 7-9.

Showy and statuesque, Persian lily (Fritillaria persica) graces gardens in late spring with spikes of deep purple-black, bell-shaped blooms. Grown from bulbs, it's a true heirloom plant, appearing as early as 1585 in Turkey, Syria, Iran, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. Give it a sunny spot with very well-drained soil. Hardy in Zones 5-8.