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A new fashion for flowers is striking a bold posy in garden centres
By Victoria Summerley
Saturday, 5 March 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/dark-side-of-the-bloom-how-spring-turned-black-2232959.html
Viola Bowles Black and Petunia Black Velvet. Commercial breeders will cross different varieties of plants to increase the level of pigments
It sounds like a thriller, or perhaps a novel by Alexandre Dumas pere. In fact, the black petunia is this year's bedding plant sensation, going on sale nationwide in garden centres and plant catalogues this week.
Petunia Black Velvet, to use its official name, is the latest in a series of black-flowered or dark-leaved plants to come on to the market.