One of the most whimsical theme gardens you can build is a chocolate garden, where all of the plants smell like chocolate, look like chocolate, or have been given a fun chocolately name.
-
Acorus gramineus 'Licorice'
Item #: 219
Zones: 6a to 9b
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 10" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China, Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $19.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Andropogon gerardii 'Blackhawks' PP 27,949
Item #: 13009
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 06/24/2022Sold out -
Sold out
Arisaema fargesii
Item #: 3126
Zones: 5a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter, Fall
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: Bare Root / 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $32.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 06/16/2023Sold out -
Asarum porphyronotum var. atrovirens 'Internet'
Item #: 13340
Zones: 7b to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 6" tall
Culture: Light Shade to Shade
Origin: China
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Astilbe 'Chocolate Shogun' PP 26,430
Item #: 13514
Zones: 3a to 7b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid, Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $19.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Berlandiera pumila 'Chocoholic'
Item #: 8092
Zones: 7a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $19.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Calycanthus floridus 'Burgundy Spice' PP 28,886
Item #: 14285
Zones: 6a to 9b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 96" tall
Culture: Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Aloha' PP 29,692
Item #: 12989
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Black Ripple' PP 26,151
Item #: 13716
Zones: 8a to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: Eastern Asia
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $23.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Colocasia esculenta 'Diamond Head' PP 19,939
Item #: 7245
Zones: 7b to 10b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $24.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Cypripedium 'Schoko' (Frosch®)
Item #: 10654
Zones: 4a to 7b, at least
Dormancy: Winter, Fall
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $78.00Regular priceUnit price perSold out -
Sold out
Dahlia 'Yellow Hammer'
Item #: 4718
Zones: 7a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 36" tall
Culture: Sun
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $19.00Regular priceUnit price perSold out -
Sold out
Epimedium grandiflorum 'Circe'
Item #: 12780
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 06/03/2022Sold out -
Epimedium grandiflorum 'Dark Beauty'
Item #: 6231
Zones: 4a to 8b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 12" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Japan
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $29.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Epimedium 'Ninja Stars' PP 29,744
Item #: 15561
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 15" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $38.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Epimedium 'Pink Champagne'
Item #: 8936
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 24" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Epimedium 'Splish Splash'
Item #: 9203
Zones: 5a to 8b, guessing
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 18" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $30.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Heuchera 'Zipper' PP 25,428
Item #: 12729
Zones: 4a to 8a
Dormancy: Evergreen
Height: 8" tall
Culture: Part Sun to Light Shade
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $19.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hibiscus 'Blackberry Merlot' PP 33,498
Item #: 16521
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 54" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hibiscus 'Cherry Choco Latte' PP 30,738
Item #: 13758
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 06/17/2022Sold out -
Hibiscus 'French Vanilla' PP 33,181
Item #: 16573
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Hibiscus 'Holy Grail' PP 31,478
Item #: 13759
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 54" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per -
Sold out
Hibiscus 'Midnight Marvel' PP 24,079
Item #: 1781
Zones: 5a to 8b, at least
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 60" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price perNext crop available: 06/03/2022Sold out -
Hibiscus 'Starry Starry Night' PP 27,901
Item #: 11952
Zones: 4a to 9b
Dormancy: Winter
Height: 48" tall
Culture: Sun to Part Sun
Origin: United States Hybrid
Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)
Regular price $22.00Regular priceUnit price per
More Information About Chocolate Garden
Perennials with a Chocolate Garden theme including Berlandiera and Verbesina.
If you are a devotee of Hershey, Nestle, or Cadbury then listen closely. Lovers of Godiva, Lindt and Toblerone pay attention. You too, Tootsie Roll fans. One of the most whimsical theme gardens you can build is a chocolate garden, where all of the plants smell like chocolate, look like chocolate, or have been given a fun chocolately name. You too, can pay homage to your favorite fudgy treat by planting a chocolate garden.
We have scoured our plant catalog to assemble a group of perennials that relate somehow to chocolate and can be grown in a temperate chocolate garden. The real chocolate plant, Theobroma cacao, is tropical, so unfortunately does not make our list. Neither does the plant from which carob is made, Ceratonia siliqua. It is a little more cold hardy, but still can only be grown in the same areas as citrus trees. Too bad.
There are a few cold hardy perennials that actually smell like chocolate and are perfect for the chocolate garden. Two that we occasionally grow here at PDN are Berlandiera and Verbesina microptera. Berlandiera flowers appear in summer and smell like rich milk chocolate, especially in the morning. Berlandiera is a small, cute perennial with yellow, daisy-like flowers. Verbesina flowers appear late in fall and smell exactly like chocolate Tootsie Rolls. They too, are yellow, but the flowers are flattened corymbs similar to queen anne's lace. Verbesina is a large woody shrub that tops out at about 15 feet.
Most of the plants in our chocolate garden list are there because they have flowers or leaves with a chocolate brown color. This may sound like a strange color for a garden, but these plants look very nice planted together and will complement light colored plants nicely. Amorphophallus and Arisaema have plenty of chocolate colored members. So do Canna, Colocasia, Dahlia, Heuchera, and Manfreda.
Finally, there are plants with chocolatey names like 'Chocolate Chips' (Manfreda, Baptisia), 'Dutch Chocolate' (Baptisia), 'Chocolatte' (Epimedium) and 'Persian Chocolate' (Lysimachia). We are rotate plants into and out of our catalog, so bookmark this page and check back to see when chocolate garden plants return such as Eupatorium 'Chocolate', Geranium 'Chocolate Candy', Heuchera 'Chocolate Ruffles' and 'Chocolate Veil', Persicaria 'Chocolate Dragon', Rodgersia 'Chocolate Wings', or Tiarella 'Mint Chocolate'.
If you want to go all the way, you can sometimes find mulch made from cocoa hulls for your chocolate garden. It smells just like chocolate, but the scent only lasts for a few weeks. If you are familiar with the internet sensation, Tay Zonday, you might be able to arrange for some Chocolate Rain in your garden, too. Good luck! When you are ready to buy chocolate garden plants, check out our online list of chocolate garden plants for sale.