Trend: black plants

For a dose of the unexpected, try adding these cool, creepy selections to your seasonal garden displays. Except for the sweet potato vine, which is more commonly seen in spring, they're all available now at nurseries. (Nursery managers can often order plants if they don't have them in stock.) All are ideal in containers.

'Blackie' sweet potato vine

Outside the tropics, this trailing, tumbling perennial (Ipomoea batatas 'Blackie') is most often grown as a spring/summer annual.

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Colocasia

Also known as elephant's ear, this water lover does best in warm climates; in colder regions, you can grow it indoors.

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'Black Scallop' Ajuga

We love the warty, wrinkled leaves of this perennial ground-cover. It commonly outgrows its pot within a year; to keep it long-term, divide or transplant.

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Black mondo grass

This spiky perennial (Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens') looks like a tarantula scrabbling across a table. It will eventually require division.

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