Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden

By Paul Bonine

Book Overview

Striking, mysterious, sinister , and strange all describe the singular appeal of plants with black (or near-black) foliage, flowers, or fruit. For some gardeners, they are curiosities that yield a special thrill. For others, they are invaluable for providing contrast with brighter elements. Whatever the source of their somber magic, these dusky denizens of the plant kingdom are irresistible to anyone drawn to nature's more unusual manifestations. In this compact, accessible volume, Paul Bonine profiles 75 of the most alluring black annuals, perennials, bulbs, and shrubs. Some of the plants--like agapanthus and lilies--are darker versions of familiar favorites, while others are rarities that will appeal to the most discerning collector. Each entry describes the plant's essential features and details the requirements for growth and care. Whether your taste runs to pansies, columbines, and sweet williams or to obscure orchids from the Andes, you'll find a host of intriguing choices in this beautifully illustrated, entertaining book. Black Plants is sure to haunt your dreams.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0881929816
• ISBN13: 9780881929812
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Timber Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.1" x 0.4" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Garden in Black

This is a fair book. It is not possible to have an entirely black garden if black truly exists anyway. The book does expose the reader to a plethora of the easy to the difficult and as such is valid. You don't have to be goth to have this on your coffee table. Matt Cohen MD Zen of Watering Your Garden

Beautiful images,good description

Good book, beautuful images, good plant description, but unfortunately very little is said about how to take care of the plants, how to bring it to its full pottential...very generic.

Needs more plants

This is a nice book for someone who's thinking of creating a black garden or looking for a few really interesting accent plants. It lost one star because there's no index & I'd have like another 25 plants. The author gives the mature size of some plants, but not all. Light & water requirements are represented by 4 & 3 pictographs respectively. It's a bit like reading an international clothing care tag, but you get used to it. The plant photos tend towards macro shots, so you'll need to find find more pictures elsewhere if you want to see the plant structure.

This little book packs a planter's punch!

A few years ago, it became fashionable to create a Chocolate Garden, a trend that continues to be popular. Plants grown in a Chocolate Garden have a chocolate fragrance and/or have very dark blooms or foliage in tones of deep purple, brown, burgundy, maroon, or near-black. A great resource book for planning such a garden is the newly-published Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden by Paul Bonine. (Timber Press, September 2009) This little gem of a book packs a planter's punch by giving essential information on 75 stunning plants that would be appropriate for creating either a themed garden or a smaller pocket of attraction. With each plant description, characteristics are provided that aid in making choices for the garden: soil conditions, hardiness zones, growth habits and light requirements. Suggestions are given for companion plantings that show off each plant's unique traits. On the page facing each description is a beautiful photograph of the plant. Growing plants with such dark colors could be seen as gloomy and unexciting, but when paired with contrasting colors such as lime green, a very dramatic effect can be obtained. Black Plants provides the necessary information to create such drama, but if you never grow a single plant highlighted in this book, it's still a fascinating read.