Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden
By Paul Bonine
Timber Press, £8.99
FT Bookshop Price: £8.99

There’s an intriguing contrariness about black plants. While their colour evokes death, disease and depression, at the same time they embody growth, vitality and optimism.

Nor are they as uncommon as might be expected. In his debut book, nurseryman and media consultant Paul Bonine presents almost 150 examples of plants with dusky leaves, flowers and/or berries and none of them is one of the four different species I recently planted in containers on my balcony.

Each of the examples in the 160-page paperback features in a beautiful picture, accompanied by a brief outline of what they have to offer the gardener. Symbols summaries the climatic and soil conditions each plant prefers but in most cases this information is also included in the text, giving a suggestion of padding out.

Nonetheless, this is an invaluable guide for those leaning towards the opinion that black is the new green.