Anyone have suggestions for dark/scary looking vegetables/flowers I can direct sow now? I’m in NY Zone 7.
I already have dark foliage peppers, black tomatoes, purple basil, purple bush beans, and some dark flowers (scabiosa, snapdragons, dahlias, nasturtiums, purple alyssum, gomphrena) 🎃
Also adding in some skeletons and lights. Having too much fun already. Thanks in advance!
by Ajiconfusion
37 Comments
There are some cool looking cucumber varieties like Sikkim. Dragon egg could be good too, planted near some scary creatures.
Maybe some purple asparagus? That’s more of a long term project though.
Not a seed sown vegetable, but you should put a little citrus trifoliata “Flying Dragon” near your goth garden, because it just looks like delicate pain.
Bella Noir
I love this!! I say add Black hellebore!
Where can I purchase these seeds?
There are blue indigo tomatoes that look dark purple/black.
Too much sunlight is necessary for gardening to be goth.
How about blood red? Like scarlet runner beans? Beautiful red flowers.
Or you could do purple beans.
Purple bell peppers are my fave to grow but their leaves dont get super dark
I can’t help much but I want pictures when it’s all grown in. I’ve been seeing black hollyhock! Eggplant comes in dark shades… black carrots and radishes but the goth part is underground 😅 sweet potato comes with purple foliage sometimes too.
Purple queen french beans, black cherry tomatoes, black velvet nasturtium, purple sprouting broccoli, purple basil, red leaf lettuce, snapdragons (the seedpods look like skulls), bleeding hearts flowers, night sky petunias, sea holly, snake head fritillary and for fun beladonna (not remotely edible but very much at home in a Goth garden).
This nearly lines up with our Purple Garden 2025.
A lot of the darkest varieties are called purple.
Dragon carrots
(Also Kyoto Red carrots look like daggers)
Early purple broccoli
Purple of Sicily cauli
Purple podded pole bean (quick starters)
Purple magic Pok Choi (note, mine didn’t germinate well)
Lolla Rossa is a red-pink lettuce
Purple calabash tomatoes
We have at least 2 types of purple peas.
Baker seeds has a section on their website they call goth gardens. Its going to have exactly what youre looking for
https://www.rareseeds.com/store/collections/goth-garden
Get something blood red and something bone white. For the contrast.
Purple bell peppers, Cherokee purple tomatoes
I think there’s some dark sunflower varieties. There’s also black pumpkins
Cherokee purple tomato, purple basil, purple pole beans, red cabbage, red romaine!
Diabolo ninebark. Black lace elderberry.
Purple African basil?
White pumpkins seem pretty goth to me
Look up landini lily!
Queen of the Night tomato, blackish purple with orange and red. Blue Indigo tomato, deep blue.
Black Velvet Nasturtium, beautiful flowers for pollinators.
Pumpkin Spice Jalapeño, orange.
Black dragon Thai pepper
/r/PlantGoths
Purple or black sunflower
Late summer you could sow purple bin choy
Someone posted a glowing flower on the gardening subreddit, I saw a few days ago.
https://preview.redd.it/96x2nvjuo20f1.png?width=1072&format=png&auto=webp&s=4c7f368a5c98aafee309dcad65ee51f29f9a7e86
I love the look of these purple podded peas.
In case you don’t know, most purple veggies will revert to green when cooked, even just for a moment. There are a handful of specific varieties, but it’s unique, so they’ll tout it if they stay purple.
https://preview.redd.it/n1bxw4ums20f1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=846435e81d014166766cae994380c5f35be83845
[Litchi tomato](https://www.rareseeds.com/litchi-tomato-or-morelle-de-balbis). I call it the tomato of sadness and regret, they have cherry tomato-like fruit on a thorny plant that grabs you as you walk by. Thrives on neglect. Scary looking but the fruit is good.
I planted crimson okra, red malabar spinach, and “love lies bleeding” amaranth. Give them a Google. They’re all pretty stellar blood red accents.
https://preview.redd.it/k6afwyvl330f1.jpeg?width=483&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=099f6c4ec1f63a9d00b9fc729849406825f6432d
Love lies bleeding amaranth is pretty
Opal basil
Malabar spinach
Kohl Rabi! It’s a funny looking vegetable and it comes in green or purple. Mixing both colours can make for a visually fun patch.
Dinosaur kale/Tuskan kale/Cavolo Nero is a visually interesting and dark kale. There’s a few different varieties of kale that are darker in colour plus smaller ones for ground cover that are purple.
I also like red pak choi, red cabbage, red chard (bright stems but dark leaves for a nice colour pop!), leeks (they look kinda dramatic), cucumbers (some are spikey) and I have physallis/cape gooseberry.
If you’d like flowers, there are some very red nasturtiums and some other colour varieties can feel very gothic. Bees love borage, so I always recommend it.
Next year, I want to focus more on aesthetics, too!
Some perilla varieties are all purple, others are purple under the leaves (surprise scare!). Anyway they’re gorgeous.
Plant a red beech tree
This Black Bat Plant was shared recently, absolutely stunning
https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/wnViAF4KdJ
Red Roselle and maybe Maypop (check out the flowers, not the plant)
edit Alabama Red Okra, Burgundy Okra