Black Petunia

Black flowers are just dark purple, but this petunia really does approach ebony, inky, midnight, murky, velvety black.
 

I have it in a small brown urn next to the line of Russian sage and some grasses along the walk.

The black petunias look good next to the amethyst spikes of Russian sage. It's a dwarf Russian sage, it won't take over the walk the way the regular species would.

Black flowers fascinate me. If I had the room or the talent I'd create a dramatic border of black and white flowering plants mixed together.

I did that one year in Connecticut with tulips -- Queen of the Night mixed with white Triumphator.

But Queen of the Night wasn't really black, the flower color was wine purple. Nice, but not black. 

And this planting never succeeded, as the deer ate the tops of the tulips, the voles ate the roots, and I couldn't figure out how to grow them without foliage or roots.

These black petunias, however, really are black and impossible to photograph. Their moody black petals absorb all the light and won't give it back.

They are safe from munching animals, but do suffer from our winds and dry air and attacks of budworms that shred the flowers each night. They don't bulk up with tons of flowers, but the sultry black ones they do produce just really please me. 

I'm going to grow some again next year, and pair them with yellow or white or . . . the possibilities are endless.