Black Beauties

I have a passion for unusual plants and some of my favorites are blacks, purples and blues. I would love to set aside an area just for these wonderful plants but as I live in a rented property I have had to confine them to pots.
These beautiful colours seem to be on the increase with new varieties in the catalogues every year. I will be listing a few of my favorites below with hints and tips on how to grow them successfullyin your garden.

Rose Black Baccara Rhapsody in Blue Blue Moon
Three of my favorite roses, as with all roses bush hybrid tea roses can come as bare root. These need soaking for up to 24 hours before planting in soil well mixed with lots of organic matter and watered well after planting. Your roses will need feeding with a specielist rose feed and feeding should start in spring and stop a month or so before the first frosts.

Phyllostachis Nigra Ophiopogon planiscarpus nigrescens

(black bamboo)
These are two of my favorite evergreens providing lots of winter interest. Prefering full sun or partial shade I have found the bamboo does not tolerate a windy position as this tends to dry the soil out and brown the leaves. The bamboo can reach 6 mtrs and can be invasive producing rhizomes that spread through the soil, so it is not a plant for a small garden.

Athyrium ‘Ursula Red’ Albiza Summer Chocolate

(Japanese painted fern)

This fern like all ferns prefer rich, moist, well drained soil in part or full shade.

Albiza summer chocolate is a new one to me, a slow growing shrub ideal for containers. It has sented flowers and seed pods in winter.