Eye-catching contrast, darkly colored late season blooms and a shorter steadfast stature are the attributes of this prized 2005 introduction by Dutch plantsman Piet Zonneveld. Umbrella-shaped, deep bluish purple flowers crown stout, polished upright green stalks infused with lavish jet-black shades as they mature. ‘Back in Black’s seductive midnight hues forge a stunning juxtaposition against the tidy glistening clump of strapping green leaves. (PP#16,244)

Blooms July–September

Size: 2' 0" high x 18" wide.

Zone 6b.

Touted as one of the deepest hued flowering cultivars in the genus, the compact no-fuss visage mesmerizes us with upright hefty midnight-blue stems and exotic-looking floral globes. This versatile pollinator-friendly perennial unleashes lustrous strap-like emerald-green foliage beneath large clustered blooms, each featuring inky-purple buds plus funnel-shaped, vivid indigo-violet flowers marked by darker central stripes. Well suited for mixed borders, massed plantings, containers and cut arrangements,‘Black Buddhist’ snubs bunnies and deer, cherishes fertile well-drained soil and needs protection from cold winter weather.

Blooms July–September

Size: 2-1/2' – 3' 0" high x 18" – 2' 0" wide.

Zone 7b.

A glossy green fountain of low growing, straplike evergreen foliage offers up loosely arranged round umbels, which unfurl like exploding fireworks, atop sturdy leafless stalks. Violet anthers and deep purple stems augment the cool dark blue, tubular flowers. Well-suited for a container or the front lines of a bed amid silver-leafed plants, small-statured ‘Lilliput’ thrives in well draining, not-too-rich, loamy soils, withstanding some dry periods once established. It appreciates afternoon shade where it’s hot and winter protection from the cold.

Blooms July – September.

Size: 2' 0" high x 18" wide.

Zone 7/8.

It was Barrie Coate’s discerning eye that chose this magnificent deeply hued treasure from a batch of Agapanthus ‘Mood Indigo’ seedlings when he was director of California’s Saratoga Horticultural Foundation. Promoted as the richest and darkest flowers of the genus, amazing, huge purple-laced blue globes each house up to 100 individual florets on strong, lustrous thick greenish black stalks. The nearly iridescent floral presentation roosts some 3 or 4 ft. above a large lush evergreen clump of shiny strap-like bright green leaves, which transmutes purple and red shades in winter and provides bold year-round foliar texture.

Blooms July–September

Size: 4' 0" high x 2' 0" – 3' 0" wide.

Zone 7/8.