Black plants

Black-leaved plants like 'Black Magic' taro combine well with green-, blue-, or yellow-leaved plants. Photo/Illustration: Allison Starcher

Another combination I like for  areas located in full sun is ‘Guizhou’ artemisia (Artemisia lactiflora ‘Guizhou’, Zones 5–8) with silvermound (Arte­misia schmidtiana, Zones 5–8) and annual Salvia discolor. This trio has the elegance of a black and white ball. The black stems of the ‘Guizhou’ artemisia highlight the black buds of the salvia, while silvermound sets it all aglow. All three plants thrive in dry situations, so they can bring a little drama to a difficult site.

If you have a woodland area, a combination you might try is a pot of tropical black taro (Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’) surrounded by maiden­hair ferns (Adiantum aleuticum, Zones 3–8). The bold, black leaves of the taro set off the thin black wires of the maidenhair ferns. It’s a magic combination, but the two plants have different requirements. The taro likes to be kept moist, even soggy, so I plant it in a pot with no hole and keep the water topped up to the brim of the pot. The maidenhair ferns live happily in their own bed of rich, moist woodland soil in areas with high humidity.

Other dark-leaved plants to exper­iment with include ‘Ravenswing’ Queen Anne’s lace (Anthriscus syl­vestris ‘Ravenswing’, Zones 7–10), ‘Chocolate’ Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’, Zones 4–9), Ligularia dentata ‘Desdemona’ (Zones 4–8), Hebe ‘Mrs. Winder’ (Zones 9–10), and ‘Brunette’ black snakeroot (Actaea simplex ‘Brunette’, Zones 4–8).

They all look fabulous with contrasting foliage plants. Visit your local nursery and have fun mixing and matching them with companions that have bright-colored leaves.