In various gardens, I've noticed dahlias with black foliage. It's a stunning contrast with the flowers, which are often yellow. I'm trying to figure out the variety so I can purchase one for myself.

My best guess is that they're the Mystic Dahlia series. Yet when I saw the Mystic series in my local nursery, the leaves were very dark green, nowhere near the stark black I've seen out and about. Does anyone have any other guesses as to a variety that has true black foliage?

Or perhaps the Mystic series is correct, but there are factors in the soil that influence foliage color?

Welcome to the Dahlias forum! I thought the Mystic dahlias had black foliage, but maybe it's just certain varieties? I know the Happy Single line has a few with black foliage, and I think Bishop of Llandaff does, too. I've never grown them, but that seems to be a selling point in the descriptions.

Yes it's the Mystic Series
technically the leaves are a deep bronze/plum giving the appearance of black in the garden. Some are darker than others. I grow several and they are stunning specimens. I often try to pair them with something lime green. (I generally try to add a lot of lime greens for color contrast to greens)

I grew Groovy for the first time last year. I didn't realize it was a black foliage dahlia until I saw it in the Swan Island catalog for this season. They have a separate page for them. The stems were darker than the leaves.




The ones they sell on the same page are:

Bee Happy (CO)
Bishop of York (S)
Japanese Bishop (PE)
Karma Choc (WL)
Mini Clarion (MS)
Sayonara (MID)
Smarty Pants (BBFD)

Their photos don't really showcase the foliage very well.

Thank you so much for the helpful replies! Calif_Sue, when you mention that some within the Mystic series are darker than others, are you referring to specific varieties within that series? Or individual plants within that series that you happen to pick up?

The last time I was at the nursery, I saw the Mystic series again and the foliage looked much darker on certain plants than others. It really made me wonder if there's something that affects foliage color---perhaps newer growth is darker and then fades a little to green, or vice versa?

Yes, some cultivars are noticeably darker than others but also there can be some other factors making them different vary within the same variety. I was at the wholesalers today and picked up another in the Mystic series and within the flats, some of the newer cuttings were slightly lighter than some that were clearly larger and visa versa.
Of the two I pictured above, they are consistently the same year after year.

https://www.gardenia.net/guide...

https://www.dahlias.com/shop?b...

Bishop's Children laden with bees.

one tip for plants w dark foliage in general.. to maximize the red pigments that make them appear dark you need lots of direct sunlight.
most plants use red wavelengths to photosynthesize, it is costly to reflect that light and they wont do it unless they have excess. Typically young plants early in the growing season, that have been grown in shaded greenhouses, or started when days are still short wont have the full deep color they will get in direct strong summer sun.

obviously there will be variations between and within varieties, but sun intensity and duration is key to maximizing your plants potential.