If you love chocolaty sweet treats, why not add a little cocoa bliss with a chocolate plant garden? While growing actual cacao (the source of chocolate) outside of the tropics is tricky, plenty of other plants will let you indulge in chocolate's rich color and scent. These varieties offer dark reddish-brown flowers and foliage or cocoa-scented blooms.
Chocolate Cosmos
With a name like chocolate cosmos, you can guess this plant will make a decadent garden addition. The burgundy-maroon flowers both look and smell like chocolaty goodness. The blooms keep coming all summer long on tall stems.
Name: Cosmos atrosanguineus
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 30 inches tall and 18 inches wide
Zones: 7-10, but commonly grown as an annual
Chocolate Flower
Native to North America, chocolate flower is another beautiful chocolate plant sure to tantalize your senses with its cocoa-scented blooms. The small, daisy-shaped yellow blossoms appear from spring through early summer.
Name: Berlandiera lyrata
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall and wide
Zones: 7-9
Chocolate Vine
Fill the air with a chocolaty aroma by covering a wall or arbor in your garden with a chocolate vine. This easy-care climber offers purple or white chocolate-scented flowers in late spring. The hand-shaped foliage lends the landscape a tropical air all summer and fall.
Name: Akebia quinata
Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: Climbs to 30 feet
Zones: 5-9
Hot Cocoa Rose
Though this chocolate plant isn't cocoa-scented, Hot Cocoa rose does offer fun coloring. The ruffled petals of this floribunda rose are burgundy-red with unusual brown undertones. It makes a stunning cut flower and gives off a moderate fragrance.
Name: Hot Cocoa Rosa 'WEKpaltlez'
Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall and wide
Zones: 7-9
'Dark Chocolate' Coleus
The 'Dark Chocolate' plant earned its moniker because of its foliage: The leaves are a rich dark purple with a slight brown undertone. This gorgeous coleus also makes a terrific houseplant if you bring it inside for the winter.
Name: Solenostemon scutellarioides 'Dark Chocolate'
Growing Conditions: Sun or shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 30 inches tall and 24 inches wide
Zones: Annual
'Chocolate Mint' Coleus
Add drama to your shade garden with this gorgeous coleus. It bears rich purple-red foliage edged crisply in lime green. As a bonus, you can grow it as a houseplant during winter if you have a bright spot for it.
Name: Solenostemon scutellarioides 'Chocolate Mint'
Growing Conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 20 inches tall and 14 inches wide
Zones: Annual
'Chocolate' Joe Pye Weed
Attract butterflies to your yard with 'Chocolate' Joe Pye weed, an easy-care perennial that's a fun version of a North American native plant. Named for its purple-brown foliage, this 'Chocolate' plant bears contrasting white flowers.
Name: Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'
Growing Conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Zones: 4-9
'Sweet Hot Chocolate' Daylily
Daylilies are among the easiest perennials to grow, so you'll definitely want to add the 'Sweet Hot Chocolate' plant to your garden. This daylily variety bears unique mahogany-purple flowers in summer. The blooms are edible (but sadly, they don't taste of cocoa). Another option is 'Chocolate Candy' daylily, which also has chocolaty flowers.
Name: Hemerocallis 'Sweet Hot Chocolate'
Growing Conditions: Sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 24 inches tall and wide
Zones: 3-10
'Milk Chocolate' Sedge
With wispy, grasslike foliage, 'Milk Chocolate' sedge makes an intriguing textural contrast in the landscape. This evergreen (everbrown?) perennial has chocolate-tan leaves that look most stunning when planted in groups.
Name: Carex comans 'Milk Chocolate'
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 14 inches tall and 30 inches wide
Zones: 7-9, but can be treated like an annual
'Chocolate' Sunflower
Big, bold, annual sunflowers are already a garden favorite. Now imagine the deep, velvety brown blooms of 'Chocolate' sunflower. This variety bears big flower heads surrounded by golden-brown petals that look especially stunning when growing among yellow sunflowers.
Name: Helianthus annuus 'Chocolate'
Growing Conditions: Sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 48 inches tall and 24 inches wide
Zones: Annual
'Chocolate Ruffles' Coralbells
Though the leaves on this spectacular coralbells emerge coppery in color, they quickly mature into a bold purple-chocolate plant. As its name suggests, the foliage is a bit ruffled, adding a little texture to the landscape. Small, white flowers appear in late spring and early summer.
Name: Heuchera 'Chocolate Ruffles'
Growing Conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 36 inches tall and 12 inches wide
Zones: 4-9
'Velour Frosted Chocolate' Viola
Start your chocolate plant garden with the rich caramel-meets-chocolate (with a purple blush) look of 'Velour Frosted Chocolate' viola. This cool-weather plant is a good choice for adding color to containers and garden beds in spring and fall.
Name: Viola 'Velour Frosted Chocolate'
Growing Conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 6 inches tall and 8 inches wide
Zones: Annual
'Colorburst Chocolate' Calibrachoa
A perfect complement to chocolate cosmos, 'Colorburst Chocolate' calibrachoa bears burgundy blooms blushed with brown. This compact annual blooms all season long and makes an excellent trailing plant for containers and hanging baskets.
Name: Calibrachoa 'Colorburst Chocolate'
Growing Conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall and 10 inches wide
Zones: Annual
'Mocha' Coralbells
Coffee and chocolate make a dreamy combo in drinks and desserts, and they can also be a match made in heaven in the garden. 'Mocha' coralbells feature deep purple foliage that seems to get darker as the season progresses. The leaves are larger than many coralbells and hold up better to heat and humidity.
Name: Heuchera x villosa 'Mocha'
Growing Conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 18 inches tall and 24 inches wide
Zones: 4-9
Chocolate Mint Scented Geranium
You'll want to put this deliciously scented geranium where you can easily brush the leaves to release their refreshing minty fragrance. While the plant doesn't actually smell of chocolate, each bright green leaf is splotched with dark purplish-brown. Grow it as a summer annual or houseplant if you have a sunny window.
Name: Pelargonium 'Chocolate Mint'
Growing Conditions: Sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 3 feet tall and wide
Zones: 9-10, but usually grown as an annual
'Heart Attack' Sweet William
A perennial form of sweet William, 'Heart Attack' produces deep brownish-red flowers in spring and summer. The blooms are sweetly fragrant (more floral than cocoa, though) and make for wonderful cut flowers.
Name: Dianthus barbatus 'Heart Attack'
Growing Conditions: Sun and well-drained soil
Size: To 1 foot tall and 2 feet wide
Zones: 4-8
'Midnight Feelings' Phlox
Though it doesn't have a chocolate plant name, there's no mistaking the color of this perennial's brown-red bracts. These bracts are what put on a show; they surround flower buds that curiously never open. The flowers last longer than traditional garden phlox.
Name: Phlox paniculata 'Midnight Feelings'
Growing Conditions: Sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Zones: 4-8
Purple Four-Leaf Clover
A quick-growing groundcover, purple four-leaf clover bears rich chocolate-purple foliage edged in green. Curiously, most of the leaves actually do have four leaflets instead of the traditional three, so you can always feel lucky.
Name: Trifolium repens 'Atropurpureum'
Growing Conditions: Sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 8 inches tall and 18 inches wide
Zones: 4-9
'Intrigue' Canna
When you need a statement plant to really draw the eye, try 'Intrigue' canna. Its tall, upright stems and large leaves are a delightful shade of brownish purple. In late summer, this canna variety has orange-red flowers, but they take a backseat to the stunning foliage.
Name: Canna 'Intrigue'
Growing Conditions: Sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 7 feet tall and 2 feet wide
Zones: 8-10, but can be treated like an annual or stored in a cool, frost-free place for winter
Recipes for Chocolate Lovers
Are you craving chocolate after reading about these beautiful chocolate plants? We can help! We have 31 chocolate cake recipes to choose from for an indulgent dessert. Or, for something to grab and go, check out our collection of chocolate cookie recipes—one is more delicious than the next. Chase away winter chills with a steaming cup of hot chocolate, made ten different ways, including adults-only spiked versions.
If you're in a hurry, a recipe using chocolate cake mix as a base cuts prep time, and no one will be able to tell the difference from a scratch cake. For healthier chocolate recipes, these dark chocolate desserts fit the bill.
