I've seen something like it: Highgate Cemetery in north London.

The backbone of a goth garden should be shagbark hickory...nice peeling bark looks spooky. Also hemlock and probably beech. Isn't there an orchid that looks like a skull? Black roses.

It surprises me people have actually gone to the trouble to breed black flowers.

What a lovely old cemetery, slightly creepy and over grown.

Morticia Addams (of The Addams Family TV show) garden was I suppose the ultimate. I was more a fan of the Munsters lol!

Atropa belladonna - even the flowers look sinister.

Victorian shrubbery plants (box, laurel, Viburnum tinus, Aucuba japonica, yew.) Pity Hedera helix is invasive over there because that is the ultimate Gothic ruin decor.

there is a dark purple frittilaria ..

not quite black .... but then.. odds are.. there is no true black in the garden ...

ken

https://www.google.com/search?q=dark+purple+frittilaria&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKsYuEyo7LAhWEkIMKHYQjBzIQ_AUICCgC&biw=899&bih=745&dpr=0.9

Aralia Spinosa (Devil's Walkingstick). Ligularia dentata 'Britt Marie Crawford'. Actaea racemosa 'Black Negligee' (bugbane); Eringium (sea holly)

What a fun idea--I'd love to see pictures!!

"The queen of black plants" -- that's a pretty good title, I think. One could aspire to worse.

black knight scabiosa, the most pretty addition to a garden, especially when paired with fire king.

Lysimachia atropupurea

'Midnight Sun' Moneywort Lysimachia

Black Poppies either single or double types

'Black Jack' or 'Purple Emperor' Sedum

Euphorbia 'Blackbird' and 'Black Pearl'

Black Mondo Grass

Pennisetum 'Moundry'

Amaranthus cruentus Oeschburg

Hens and Chicks 'black'

Common Cockscomb, the deep burgundy one with dark maroon leaves

Purpura Wandering Jew

Black Cotton--Gossypium herbaceum 'Nigra'

Black Patent Leather Coleus

Capsium Purple Flash or other black peppers

Sweet Caroline Raven Sweet Potato

Bronze Fennel

What would I REALLY plant in a Goth Garden? Several silver or white plants for visual contrast because otherwise, it would be rather dull. Camps, I like that idea of 'Black and White' but definitely not all dark colors.

Lysimachia atropupurea

What trees would go in A Goth Garden? Birch? Shagbark hickory?

Heck no. I'd grow a Monkey Puzzle tree or something bizarre like that. Its hardy in my zone and it just seems to me you should choose something unusual and uncommon to go with the spook theme.......and something very light such as Silver Leaf Willows to keep the white/silver contrast element going.

something "weepy" and "gnarly" that has a great silhouette against the evening sky?

Don't you think its dark enough with black flowers without adding shade trees to block the sun? How awful. I mean, if you want 'atmosphere' surround it with a wrought iron fence, sort of graveyard-like in feel. It could be much bigger than this.....

Other small trees could be Purple Smoke or Forest Pansy Redbud.

Throw in some reflective balls for light......

and a statue that feels right.

The bark of the white birch would provide nice contrast with the black. Or would it be too cheery? Redbud seems too cheery...pink flowers have no place in a goth garden. Red roses, yes, pink no. What species of tree are particularly gnarly?

i like the iron fence and angel...not so much the gazing balls.

I know now there is a kind of flower that looks like a skull. Either an orchid or a lily. Anyone know the name? I tried to google it but just got a lot of pictures of tattoo designs.

Ed, not a plain ole 'redbud' redbud. A FOREST PANSEY redbud. The new leaves are so dark they are nearly black.

And another reason for it is that it gets these bizarre flowers on the trunk and twisty limbs in spring which look like pink lichen.

Perhaps Corylus avellana 'Contorta'. Here is a link Corylus avellana 'Contorta'

Peren.all, that would definitely be good. I am leaning toward bizarre. Thinking about this now, I can't see a Goth Garden down here, its too hot & the sun is too intense, the light would be wrong. I think it would fit better up north or in the UK or anywhere less torrid.

I've got a theme garden, I think theme gardens are the most fun. The colors lean toward olive, blue, grey and golden wheat colors with flowers serving as accents. Way back when my sister were planting herbs we got interested in planting a Witch's Garden, we ran across the idea in a old 1930's Better Home's and Gardens magazine. A Goth Garden is different but it made me remember the Witch Garden period. That was fun.

Weeping willow, if you have the space

Queen of the Night tulips for spring

Black sweet potato vine for summer

Black Baccara, Nigrette, black magic roses

I'm not sure my vision of a purist Goth garden would have any flowers at all, except possibly the odd Dracunculus and Deadly Nightshade. Dripping, gloomy evergreens, moss, ferns and ivy would cover it imo. Mossy, ruinous stones, dilapidated statuary and some rusting ironwork. And I agree with texasranger2. Rain, drizzle, mist, fog and grey skies are sine qua non. Those trees have to drip and ooze. There should be moss growing on the moss. No Goth gardens for you if you have a sunny climate.

Really TR, Goth ? :)

Elderberry Black Lace shrub. Grows fast, loves the sun and has black leaves all season.

See, I don't think it should be ALL black. That would eventually get boring and silly. It should be a mix of black, red, and white. The color would come from Red Roses, Deadly Nightshade, belladonna, and Monkshod. Black roses and miscellaneous black flowers with white lilies and poison hemlock for contrast. Some twisted deciduous trees. Ivy covered folly. Angel statuary liketexasranger2 suggested.

Pitcher plants. I agree a cold rainy climate would be good, but the advantage of doing it in the South is you could have Spanish Moss and more carnivorous plant options.

Barron Witch Garden. Not Goth. But Goth is fun to think about.

Witch Garden plants are mostly herbs, medicinal, poisonous etc.

Clary Sage, Poppy, Mugwort, Vervain, Witch's Broom, Wormwood, Monkshood, Elfwort, Belladonna, Rue, Mint, Rosemary, Hyssop, Lavender, Deadly Nightshade, Comfrey etc

The fence was one of those loose things built with branches in a zigzag pattern. Early, rustic, rural America in feel.

I think of Goth more as a lot of black with an old historical graveyard like feel or maybe an old European castle or Gothic church courtyard or graveyard in feel, wrought iron, statues, stone wall etc. I don't think of poisonous plants, just dark ones preferably black or almost black. I found this neat chart on Google. Its got some plants we didn't list.

That yellow flowered celandine does NOT match the theme :)

It's Brazen Hussy so the leaves are dark. But the flowers would certainly destroy the gloom theme and the leaves disappear in the summer.

Gee, I doe no barron.......I think it fits right in. I just googled it "forms a gorgeous mound of purple-black leaves". I'd use it. "Tolerates summer heat and humidity". Even better. The early spring yellow would be a knock out. Its a new one on me, I've never heard of it before.

plus it is a great name

Yea camps, you'd know that if anyone did because there's some really horrible and stupid names for plants out there. That's a good one. Bet ya it was named by a Brit.

Here's one I really hate: 'Bobo'

Every time I see it, its fingernails on a chalkboard. Don't know why but it is.

I'm surprised Brazen Hussy is billed as tolerating summer heat and humidity. It's a cultivar of our native lesser celandine, a denizen of damp British deciduous woodland. And even here has disappeared completely by about May when the trees have leafed out. It returns the next spring.

I would like to see yerba mate :)

Good call, Texasranger: Brazen Hussy was found and named by Christopher Lloyd.

Dark, dripping evergreens for me too. And Sauromatum venosum and dark carrion flowers like Stapelia. Adds some gloom for the nose too.

floral, heat is a relative term. I imagine whats considered heat in some parts is mild in others. I always consider the source.

I wonder what the source of that quote was?

This is a spring ephemeral from a cool, maritime climate which is only visible above ground for 2 or 3 months a year. Heat for this thing would be anything over about 60f ;-) And humidity would come in the form of plentiful chilly rain, or even sleet, since it flowers so early. They're blooming now round here.

They say it goes completely dormant in summer.
http://www.perennials.com/plants/ranunculus-ficaria-brazen-hussy.html

Yes, it does. That lovely foliage is ephemeral, even in its native haunts. I suppose the expression 'tolerates heat and humidity' is true in so far as the bulbils can survive them. But there will be no flowers or foliage under those conditions.

If anyone is still following this thread and consideing planting Lesser Celandine make sure it is definitely Brazen Hussy you get. The green leaved version is an invasive alien in the US and even in my garden, where it has every right to be, it is an annoying weed which smother the beds with its foliage in Spring.

I didn't see anyone mention thorns. Seems like you'd want a nice spiked bracelet or choker to go with all your black.... or am I off on the goth feel?

Someone mentioned Harry Lauder's walking stick. I'd add Flying Dragon hardy orange... twisted branches with huge thorns which seem like a hostile, songbird trapping, impenetrable thicket. You would need to ignore the fragrant white citrus blooms in the spring, but maybe you could pretend they are a poisonous, sickly-sweet scent and continue on your dark and gloomy path.

Perfect for a Goth Garden...

Snapdragon Seeds that Look Like Skulls