This plant possesses darker foliage than possibly any other. It is a member of the Lily family, Liliaceae. To the untrained eye it doesn't look like a lily for most of the year but in early autumn when it produces racemes of small six petalled purple flowers. The flowers are followed by black fruits.

Native to Japan, it is found in the wild on low hills in scrub and woodland. This black leaved form is the one most frequently grown in Scotland, although there are forms with dark green leaves and other with variegated leaves. The latter is a marvelous plant. In the garden is a very useful foliage plant. It keeps its black leaves all year round. It needs a humous rich open site which is shaded for part of the day. Being small it is suited to the front of a border, close to a path or to the west of a rock. Its roots will seek moisture under the rock. It hates being roasted in a container on a hot patio but is very amenable to being grown in a trough in an open semi-shaded site. It slowly forms clumps which, when they get too large, can be lifted, teased apart and the pieces replanted in fresh compost. It associates well in the garden and in troughs with dwarf grasses, especially the small Carex species. Being black it is a perfect contrast plant for almost any other flowering rock plant. Designers will plant it in a slate scree where it may be almost invisible. When your catches sight if the Ophiopogon is then all the more delightful. It is an easy plant to grow.

For rock gardeners who show plants it is a marvelous filler plant because it can be used in foliage classes, Liliaceous classes as well as fruit or flower classes. In winter when the frost edges the black leaves with silver it is indeed a treasure. Small plants like Ophiopogon planiscapus 'nigrescens' which look good in winter and which take little looking after during the rest of the year when they still look good are worthy of a place in any garden. It is available to buy a most specialist alpine nurseries and at the plant sales at SRGC shows.

^ back to the top ^