Dark flowers thriving in backyard ‘goth garden’

Packed to the brim with black foliage, deep shades of green and the occasional white royal wedding poppy, a “goth garden” in Carleton Place, Ont., has drawn quite a bit of attention for its unique backyard collection. 

Owner Chloe Hurst remembers being into gardening and darker elements of goth culture since a child.

“My mom had me in the dirt when I was a kid, like very very young. And I was also the weird kid back then too. I always wanted to dress in black rather than pink,” she said on CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning on Tuesday.

That passion for things that lean to the dark side inspired Hurst to begin her own gothic style of growing after buying her house in 2018.

Her backyard holds a variety of plants in unconventional colours and shades, with one of the darkest being a Raven ZZ. 

The bottom of the leaves are green but that would be hard to know without a better look under the plant’s shiny black top, according to Hurst.

There’s a large amount of interest on social media for the carefully curated garden: Hurt’s Instagram @theg0thgarden has more than 230,000 followers.

The idea of a goth garden has recently garnered attention in the New York Times, NPR and HGTV.

However, there are people in her neighborhood who voice their displeasure by sending her hateful messages. Reactions to an unconventional array of plants is nothing new, Hurst said.

She added there are common misconceptions she’s run into over her years of being into goth things.

“A lot of people think that because they dress darker, that they are a darker person themselves or that they’re sad or depressed. But really we’re all just bubbly people on the outside and on the inside.”

“We’re just kind people,” added Hurst.

Hurst said the majority of responses she receives are positive and include people sending photos of their own darker gardens. 

The garden now boasts 50 plants, which Hurst says is a challenge in itself. She said she is always out searching on weekend nursery trips for black flowers, with that colour being more difficult to find.