Outside

“There is always a trend toward things that are interesting and unusual, and incorporating black into the color scheme in your garden can be exciting,” says Steven Koprowski, landscape designer and owner of Koprowski and Associates in Richmond.

Achieving true black in blooms can be tricky, although more new hybrids are achieving it every year, our experts say. Some of their favorites include Black Barlow columbine, Storm of the Century iris, Black Gamecock iris, perennial black violas, Black Magic elephant ears, Blackie sweet potato vine, Queen of the Night tulips and black daylilies and hollyhocks.

But resist the temptation to create an all-black flowerbed. Too many dark blooms together create a visual void, says Janet Baruch, landscape designer with Greenway Gardens in Richmond. It’s important to place them where they will complement other, brighter flowers, or against a lighter background so they can stand out.

Black flowers and foliage are best used as an accent or foil to other colors, says Janet Rogers, grounds manager for the Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville. Two combinations that work well are black and yellow and black and pink, she says. Another of her favorites: graduated color beds with flowers planted so that the colors move from light to dark.

Light is crucial for black plantings as well, to ensure that the darker blooms are visible. “The color will look very different in shade than in bright sunlight,” Rogers notes.

Other top gardening trends for 2011:

Rain gardens. As eco-gardening goes mainstream, gardeners are turning to rain gardens to preserve water resources and help the environment. Planted largely from grasses and other native plants, rain gardens slow storm water runoff, filter pollutants and rarely need additional watering.

The best location for a rain garden is where water collects during and just after a rainstorm, suggests Ralph Hall, board member of the Piedmont Master Gardener’s Association and editor of the group’s newsletter, The Cultivator. Track how quickly the water runs off, however. Some plants will tolerate being flooded for a few hours or a day, but not necessarily having their roots standing in water for days at a time, he notes.

Top plants for rain gardens in Virginia include blueberry bushes, Jerusalem artichoke, pampas grass, feather reed grass and Great Blue lobelia, our experts say.