Kat Von D isn’t necessarily a name you might associate with gardening; the iconic tattooist is far more likely to be found in a pair of leather fingerless gloves than pruning mitts.
Still, it seems the real world’s answer to Morticia Addams has a surprisingly green thumb – albeit one with a distinctly gothic twist – and her most iconic gardening project is more than glamorous enough to make even the most devoted cottage garden enthusiast consider switching sides.
When you consider the fact that our appetites for gothic romance have been well and truly heightened by the dark drama and sweeping silhouettes of Wuthering Heights, no wonder more and more of us are sitting up and paying attention to Kat Von D’s horticultural efforts, eh?
Kat Von D’s Gothic Garden
Yes, Kat Von D has been busy; on top of her day job as a tattooist, recording artist, and beauty entrepreneur, she has also created a spectacular display of thousands of near-black tulips outside her Indiana home.
Unsurprisingly, when you consider who you’re dealing with, they’re about as far removed from the usual pastel spring border as you can get. Better still, we know exactly which variety she’s planted, which means you can take full advantage of the fall (aka prime tulip planting season) and recreate a little of Kat’s wonderfully dark garden at home.
Check it out:
Kat Von D’s famous display is made up of ‘Queen of Night’ tulip bulbs, one of the deepest, darkest tulip varieties you can grow. Sure, the flowers aren’t technically black (if you want to split hairs, they’re actually a wonderfully moody maroon-purple) but, when planted en masse, they come pretty close.
What makes the tulip garden so striking isn’t just the unusual flower color, however; it’s the sheer number of them. Kat originally planted around 10,000 ‘Queen of Night’ bulbs, and the display has since grown to around 15,000, creating an incredible wall of dark blooms.
Shop Kat Von D-Inspired Tulips:
Now, you don’t necessarily need thousands of bulbs (although, if you have the space, go for it!) to get the Kat Von D look. Instead, plant in big drifts of one color, rather than a little bit of everything.
The idea is simple; a smaller planting of the same variety offers a much more dramatic effect than scattering a few different tulips around a border. And, if you stick to dark flowers, then you will find that they provide an instant contrast to everything around them, whether that’s green foliage, pretty pastel blooms, gravel, brickwork or an old house.
In other words, you don’t need to turn your entire garden into a gothic fantasy to get the look.
The best thing about all of this is that Kat Von D hasn’t used some impossibly rare variety of tulip that you’ll have to hunt down from a specialist collector.; ‘Queen of Night’ is classic late-flowering tulip that’s sold far and wide.
That means you can steal Kat’s idea for yourself very easily, and now is the perfect time to do it! After all, tulips are planted in fall so that bulbs have time to develop their roots before winter; the exact planting window depends on which USDA planting zone you’re based in, but gardeners in colder regions generally plant once the soil has cooled, while warmer areas can plant later in the fall.
Essentially, you’re looking for a window several weeks before the ground freezes.
Shop Gothic Blooms:
If you’re tempted to create a whole Kat Von D-inspired border, you don’t even have to stop at tulips. Look for other flowers and foliage in deep burgundy, plum, wine and near-black shades, then use green or pale flowers to stop the planting from becoming too heavy.
Think dark dahlias, purple-black scabiosa, burgundy foliage, deep purple irises, chocolate cosmos, and near-black petunias. And remember: you don’t need to copy Kat Von D’s garden exactly. Instead, choose one dramatic element – in this case, a mass of almost-black tulips – and let it dictate the rest of your planting scheme.
The result can be every bit as glamorous, mysterious, and wonderfully over-the-top, even if your garden is considerably smaller than a celebrity’s.
