8 best chocolate-colored flowers for heavenly, decadent borders that bridge the seasons perfectly

In any plant-rich garden, it's crucial to get the colors just right. If you are a color-phobe, I urge you to liberate yourself from the 'everything white' noughties throwback, and include color, rhythmically and judiciously placed through borders. That doesn't mean you have to add jolts of saccharine Barbie pink and canary yellow. Shades like that found in the best chocolate colored flowers, can be moody and sultry, rather than playful and juvenile.

My love affair with dark and moody garden color schemes continues unabated, and the protagonist in any dark and rich palette is a dark, sumptuous, chocolate brown. In the plant world, chocolate brown plants lean either slightly milky with a dash of ballet slipper pink, or an intensely dark violet. Regardless, each has a distinct cocoa undertone, and I am compelled to recommend every one as a remarkably beautiful and unusual plant.

Here are the eight best chocolate brown flowers to grow in your garden.

8 chocolate brown flowers to grow in your garden

1. Tulip 'Black Hero'

Tulip 'Black Hero' is undoubtedly one of the very best tulip varieties for delivering a superb display of stunning dark blooms.

Seemingly made from deep, near-black, rich velvet, the flowers themselves are simply huge, opening up to something that looks similar to a peony. These lovely flowers have such a delicious, deep honey smell, it's almost hypnotic.

They can be grown in pots, borders, or cut flower gardens and will tolerate full sun to partial shade.

Height: 45cm (18in)

You can buy Tulip 'Black Hero' bulbs at John Scheepers.

2. Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Black Knight'

I have never seen butterflies swarm to a plant more than they do to scabious. These pincushion flowers are stunning, easy to grow, and packed full of nectar.

Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Black Knight' is a deep maroon variety, which, from afar, appears almost jet black, and it grows in broad waist-high swathes.

When this deeply saturated color is combined with acid lime green, the color combination is nothing short of pulse-racing.

Height: 90cm (3 feet)

You can buy Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Black Knight' at Eden Brothers.

3. Gladiolus 'Espresso'

Grow this deliciously decadent dark gladioli variety amongst piles of citrus green euphorbia, and sit back and let your guests oggle at the beautiful sight.

These flowers are a deep chocolate red, almost black, and will flower from summer into the fall. To maximise their potential, grow them in full sun, and ensure the soil is well-drained, as they hate to be waterlogged.

Height: Grows up to 5ft tall (150cm)

You can buy Gladiolus 'Espresso' bulbs at Eden Brothers.

4. Aquilegia vulgaris 'Black Barlow'

'Black Barlow' is particularly stunning with its fully double, upward-facing, spurless, dark plum chocolate flowers.

Blooming in late spring to early summer, these are in my book, a cottage garden staple, and every garden is vastly enriched by their presence, not just from an aesthetic standpoint, but it is one of the best plants for pollinators in springtime.

‘Black Barlow’ thrives in well-drained soil and partial shade and self-seeds readily, which means you will get naturalized drifts year after year.

Height: Reaches around 20 inches in height.

You can buy 'Black Barlow' seeds from Select Seeds.

5. Angelica Sylvetris 'Ebony'

If your initial response to this plant featuring on this list is tinged with suspicion, let me assure you that when planted in a border, this wildly beautiful angelica is decidedly coco colored.

The tall milk chocolate stems hold up large umbels of architectural flowers, which look just as stunning when dried and used as indoor decoration as when in the garden.

It thrives in moist, fertile soil with good drainage. While preferring cooler temperatures, it is adaptable to more temperate conditions.

Height: Reached around 7ft tall

You can buy Angelica Sylvetris 'Ebony' at Ferri Seeds.

6. Oxalis Triangularis

Be still, my beating heart. Oh, how I love oxalis. I grow masses of dark chocolate purple oxalis as houseplants inside my home. The dark, delicate leaves close at night and open again in the morning, and the flowers are edible.

This plant is a decorative, low-growing perennial that thrives with bright, indirect light and well-draining soil. A word of warning: growing them can become quite addictive, so proceed with caution.

Height: 6-12 inches

You can buy oxalis bulbs on Amazon.

7. Digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate'

As befits its name, this most interesting foxglove variety looks like, well, chocolate. It soars to the sky with silvery foliage and lance-shaped blonde chocolate flowers. It is quite the vision, and nothing at all like it's oh-so-pretty flouncy girlish cousins.

'Milk Chocolate' quite literally stops people in their tracks, and as far as flowers that attract bees go, nothing is set to beet this giant.

'Milk Chocolate' prefers partial sun but will grow in full sun and flowers from mid April or early May right through to the tail end of July.

Height: 60cm (24in)

You can buy Foxglove 'Milk Chocolate' seeds from Seedville.

8. Cosmos atrosanguineus 'Chocolate Cosmos'

Cosmos atrosanguineus, known as the chocolate cosmos is a wonderfully velvety, dahlia-like plant with chocolate-maroon flowers that, quite incredibly, has an unmistakable smell of hot chocolate - heavenly.

There might not be a cosmos as special as this, so its worth getting your hands on the seeds as they are astounding when they sway about in the garden, in all their decadent glory.

It loves full sun, just remember to deadhead to prolong flowering.

Height: 24", 60cm

You can buy Cosmos atrosanguineus from Ferri Seeds.

This selection includes muted and dusky chocolate tones that feel particularly well suited to summer's transition into fall. All are easily grown in a garden, but perhaps interspersed amongst other hushed tones.

An element of green is always essential when working with dark and moody tones, so don't be afraid to add lighter tones to lift the palette, like peachy salmons and butter yellow flowers.