Plant This Deep-Colored Lily To Add A Moody Vibe To Your Garden

Flowers are one of nature's most unique and diverse wonders, running the gamut from bold, bright, and flashy to soft, subtle, and elegant. When given as gifts or presented symbolically, flowers are usually associated with happiness, calmness, care, and well wishes, but that doesn't mean you have to forego beautiful blooms to give off a more moody vibe in your garden. On the contrary, there are plenty of spooky plants that will look right at home with your Halloween décor or enhance a gothic aesthetic. One of the most gorgeous options is the Night Rider lily. 

The Night Rider is a lily that will bring color to your garden — a rich, dark color, that is. If the name alone isn't cool enough to convince you, this plant is also surprisingly easy to grow! Don't pass up this flower if you want to bring an eccentric goth look to your garden.

Night Rider lilies are a hybrid between Asiatic lilies and trumpet lilies, with a satiny sheen and deep, dark petals that look pitch black in the right lighting. This plant will do well in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 9 with loose, well-draining soil, where it can grow up to 4 feet tall and produce multiple blooms per stalk. They're also quite happy to be grown in containers with loose, moist, and slightly acidic soil. Night Rider lily bulbs can be planted in fall or spring, before or after any risk of frost, and will fare best in full or partial sunlight. As drought-tolerant perennials, these moody blooms will return to your garden each year if ideal conditions are met.

If all goes well after planting, you can expect to enjoy these gorgeous violet-black blooms from late spring to mid-summer. Just like other lilies, Night Rider lilies produce a strong, sweet scent and can attract an array of pollinators to your doorstep, including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. They also make beautiful cut flower arrangements to give as gifts or decorate your home. Although pollinators love them, remember that lilies are very poisonous to some animals. They're one of the plants you should avoid growing around pets. Lilies can be deadly for cats and are also toxic for dogs.