The appearance of near-black flowers offers a dramatic contrast in the garden, making petunias like ‘Black Velvet’ and ‘Black Mamba’ highly sought-after annuals. These unique cultivars provide a sophisticated, almost velvety texture that sets them apart from traditional bright petunias. Acquiring these specific dark-hued plants requires knowing where and when to look, as their availability is often more limited than common varieties. Understanding their specific needs is necessary to ensure the flowers maintain their rich color throughout the growing season.
Understanding the Specific Cultivars
The flowers commonly referred to as “black” petunias are not truly jet black in a botanical sense. They are, instead, intensely saturated shades of deep purple, maroon, or mahogany, which appear black to the human eye. This dramatic coloration is achieved through high concentrations of anthocyanins, the same pigments responsible for red, purple, and blue hues in many plants.
Leading examples include Petunia x hybrida ‘Black Velvet,’ which was one of the first commercially available cultivars, and its successors like ‘Black Magic’ and ‘Crazytunia Black Mamba.’ Other dark varieties, such as ‘Phantom,’ feature a black base overlaid with a contrasting pattern, like a yellow star. These distinctive colors are the result of careful genetic breeding, which has successfully combined color mutations to maximize pigment levels without resorting to genetic modification.
Locating Retailers and Specialized Online Sources
Finding established black petunia plants is often easiest through local brick-and-mortar retailers during their peak seasonal window. Large garden centers and even big-box stores typically stock popular dark varieties like ‘Black Velvet’ and ‘Black Mamba’ as annual bedding plants. Availability is highly concentrated in the late spring and early summer, after the last expected frost date for your region.
For a wider selection of unique or newly released dark cultivars, specialized online nurseries are the primary source. These vendors often sell young plants, known as plugs or starter plants, which are shipped directly to the customer for planting. Ordering plugs provides access to specific varieties that local stores may not carry, but requires the buyer to nurture the small plant until it is ready for the garden.
Purchasing seeds is another option, though availability is often limited for patented hybrids. Seeds are typically sold by specialist companies in late winter or early spring, offering a cost-effective option that requires starting them indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost. However, due to their hybrid nature, not all seeds produce true-to-type plants, making established plugs or plants the best way to guarantee the desired color. Online ordering ensures you secure the cultivar you want before local stock sells out, but requires planning ahead.
Essential Care for Deeply Colored Petunias
Black petunias thrive when given the same basic care as their brighter counterparts, though their unique color requires attention to specific environmental factors. They require a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight each day to produce the most abundant blooms. While full sun is generally beneficial, extremely intense afternoon heat can occasionally cause the deep pigments to fade or lighten slightly.
These plants are heavy feeders, necessitating a consistent fertilization schedule to support their continuous flowering. Applying a balanced or high-phosphorus liquid fertilizer every one to two weeks helps to encourage bloom production over excessive foliage growth. Petunias in containers or hanging baskets may need watering daily, and sometimes twice a day during the hottest periods, as their limited soil volume dries out quickly.
Regular deadheading is needed to maintain the plant’s appearance and promote new flower buds. Removing spent flowers prevents the plant from diverting energy into seed production, which would slow down blooming. Pinching off the entire faded flower, including the small seed pod behind it, encourages the plant to produce more of its dark blooms.