Garden Pros Love a Black House. Here's Why

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Black houses have been having a moment for the last decade. We’ve certainly covered plenty of them here on Gardenista and on our sister site Remodelista. In fact, my own interest in ebony exteriors was sparked when I saw blogger Sarah Samuels’s Michigan lake house on Remodelista back in 2013, when the color still felt a little unexpected. Painted black, the house felt fresh and modern and seemed to recede into its natural surroundings.

Color trends come and go faster than ever in today’s world of Instagram and TikTok, but black exteriors have had a surprising staying power and especially with a particular subset of homeowners: garden lovers.

That receding quality that I so admired in Samuels’s home is perhaps why gardeners are attracted to a midnight shade: It puts the garden into focus. A black backdrop also sets off plants in a way that really makes individual plants pop, especially in photographs. “When designing with black, the house dissolves and the garden becomes more alive,” says landscape designer Molly Sedlacek, the founder of California firm ORCA.

Black houses may feel modern, but they’ve actually been around for a while. In the more distant past, houses were black for practical reasons. Traditional methods of preserving and protecting wood result in a blackened look, including the Japanese practice of shou sugi ban and the Scandinavian method of coating wood in pine tar and linseed oil. One of the most famous black house and garden pairings is Derek Jarman’s iconic Prospect Cottage and its garden at Dungeness, which he developed in the 1980s and early 90s.

Whether you consider it a trend or a timeless choice, there’s no question: A black house is a brilliant foil to gardens in almost any climate. And if you’re nervous to fully embrace black, very deep shades of gray, green, espresso, and navy achieve much the same effect.

Here are 10 homes that use a black exterior to highlight the garden:

Above: Last year Timber Press released a 30th anniversary edition of Jarman’s book *Derek Jarman’s Garden*, which is helping to keep this garden’s influence alive. We love the contrast of the sunny yellow window frames against the black siding. Photograph by Howard Sooley.

Above: Deborah Needleman chose to stain the barn of her Garrison New York home, which she uses as a weaving studio, black. With the window trim and doors painted black, as well, the structure cedes focus to the wild-yet-cultivated garden. Photograph by Miguel Flores Vianna, from Quick Takes With: Deborah Needleman.

For a recent project, ORCA paired a newly-built black house with a natural wood fence. &#8\2\20;We like the natural wood as a contrast to the black,” explains Sedlacek. “It creates layering and depth so the landscape doesn&#8\2\17;t blend into the architecture.” Photograph by Cass Cleave for ORCA. — Above: For a recent project, ORCA paired a newly-built black house with a natural wood fence. “We like the natural wood as a contrast to the black,” explains Sedlacek. “It creates layering and depth so the landscape doesn’t blend into the architecture.” Photograph by Cass Cleave for ORCA.

When Workshop/APD’s clients asked them to build them a black beach house, the firm delivered one clad in Nakamoto Forestry’s black Pika-Pika yakisugi siding. &#8\2\20;This rich, dark exterior palette allows the home to recede into the tree line and its shadows in a way that a more traditional white Hamptons home would not,” says Tyler Marshall, associate principal at Workshop/APD. The landscape design is by Abby Lawless of FARM Landscape Design. Photograph by Read McKendree for Workshop/APD — Above: When Workshop/APD’s clients asked them to build them a black beach house, the firm delivered one clad in Nakamoto Forestry’s black Pika-Pika *yakisugi* siding. “This rich, dark exterior palette allows the home to recede into the tree line and its shadows in a way that a more traditional white Hamptons home would not,” says Tyler Marshall, associate principal at Workshop/APD. The landscape design is by Abby Lawless of FARM Landscape Design. Photograph by Read McKendree for Workshop/APD

Above: Landscape designer Fi Cambell painted this small house in Victoria, Canada, black, which she felt was fitting for the quirky “gnome’s cottage,” as she calls it. Photograph by Fi Campbell, from Before & After: Fi Campbell’s Low-Cost, No-Fuss Garden for Her Daughter.

Los Angeles-based landscape designer Mintee Kalra of Peruse painted her \19\20s cottage black when she bought it. Kalra tested colors on every exposure of the house, settling on Sherwin-Williams’s Tricorn Black in a satin finish, which she says offers “just enough reflectivity to hold depth without reading glossy.” Eventually, she plans to re-clad the house in sugi ban cladding as a fire-resistant safety measure. Photograph courtesy of Peruse. — Above: Los Angeles-based landscape designer Mintee Kalra of Peruse painted her 1920s cottage black when she bought it. Kalra tested colors on every exposure of the house, settling on Sherwin-Williams’s Tricorn Black in a satin finish, which she says offers “just enough reflectivity to hold depth without reading glossy.” Eventually, she plans to re-clad the house in *sugi ban* cladding as a fire-resistant safety measure. Photograph courtesy of Peruse.

Above: When Martin Architects hired landscape design firm deMauro + deMauro to design a native plant meadow outside their Bridgehampton, NY, office, they had already settled on a deep gray that reads almost like black. The inky facade is an especially nice choice for a grass-dominant scheme designed to provide year-round interest. In winter, the seedheads are better articulated against a black backdrop. Photograph by Doug Young for deMauro + deMauro, from Garden Visit: Beauty and Biodiversity in Lieu of a Front Lawn in Bridgehampton, NY.

Above: In Austin, Texas, Barton Springs Nursery co-owners Amy Hovis and Greg Thomas spent a year living in a \1990s trailer on their nursery property. Painting the \249 square-foot trailer black and adding a deck helped to make the plants take centerstage. Hovis and Thomas have a forthcoming book, A Home Called Outside: How Living Small Opened Our World, about the experience. Photograph by Greg Thomas. — Above: In Austin, Texas, Barton Springs Nursery co-owners Amy Hovis and Greg Thomas spent a year living in a 1990s trailer on their nursery property. Painting the 249 square-foot trailer black and adding a deck helped to make the plants take centerstage. Hovis and Thomas have a forthcoming book, *A Home Called Outside:* *How Living Small Opened Our World*, about the experience. Photograph by Greg Thomas.

Food stylist and cookbook author Suzanne Lenzer, who moonlights as a woodworker and an avid gardener, painted her Connecticut home black, and it&#8\2\17;s become a high-contrast canvas for the profusion of Annabelle hydrangeas planted around the house. Lenzer started with just black siding and then painted the trim black too for a uniform look. Photograph by Suzanne Lenzer. — Above: Food stylist and cookbook author Suzanne Lenzer, who moonlights as a woodworker and an avid gardener, painted her Connecticut home black, and it’s become a high-contrast canvas for the profusion of Annabelle hydrangeas planted around the house. Lenzer started with just black siding and then painted the trim black too for a uniform look. Photograph by Suzanne Lenzer.

Not sure about going all-black? Consider turning just a portion of your home&#8\2\17;s exterior to the dark side. This five-bedroom house is white, except for the new extension, which is clad in shou sugi ban carbonized cedar boards. Landscape designer Stefano Marinaz chose a simple palette of white and pink plantings that would stand out against the dark backdrop. Photograph by by Rosangela Photography, courtesy of Stefano Marinaz Landscape Architecture, from Gatehouse Garden: A Dramatic Black Backdrop for a White Wildflower Meadow. — Above: Not sure about going all-black? Consider turning just a portion of your home’s exterior to the dark side. This five-bedroom house is white, except for the new extension, which is clad in *shou sugi ban* carbonized cedar boards. Landscape designer Stefano Marinaz chose a simple palette of white and pink plantings that would stand out against the dark backdrop. Photograph by by Rosangela Photography, courtesy of Stefano Marinaz Landscape Architecture, from Gatehouse Garden: A Dramatic Black Backdrop for a White Wildflower Meadow.

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