A chocolate sensory experience
Chocolate is a popular gift for Father’s Day, but have you thought of the potential for chocolate in the garden? There are flowers and leaves with the aroma of chocolate, that come in shades of chocolate, or that have a chocolate name. The garden will be even more interesting if you widen the range of chocolate shades to include dark maroon, mahogany, wine, bronze and brown. These are colours that add depth and shadows, important elements in landscape design.
If you can get hold of it, your first choice should be the chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) with velvety, dark red-brown blooms and a chocolate scent. But there are many other flowers just as suitable for this garden; try coral bells (Heuchera ‘Obsidian’), dark columbine (Aquilegia atrata), black arum lilies, pansies, irises, day lilies, Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’ or sunflower ‘ShockO’Lat’. For a touch of chocolate on the patio, look out for the striking black Anthurium.
If you’d like plants with chocolate-coloured foliage, try succulents such as Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ and Echeveria ‘Black Prince’, both of which provide gorgeous contrast to ornamental grasses such as reddish-purple Pennisetum ‘Vertigo’ and compact Carex ‘Bronze’.
For a tree with chocolate-coloured foliage, try the new Black Diamond range of pride of India (Lagerstroemia). These small trees (3.5m tall x 2.5m wide) are drought-tolerant once established, bearing blooms in shades of white, pink, purple and red from early summer through to autumn.
Plants with chocolate-scented foliage include a pelargonium with a chocolate-mint aroma and a mint with a chocolate-peppermint flavour – the latter is great for adding to puddings, ice creams and drinks.