For the last decade, “biophilic design” has been associated with one thing: green. A lot of bright green plants. Monsteras. Ferns. The occasional plant fighting for attention in a lobby corner. It’s been effective – but it’s also become the default. Walk into ten office lobbies and you’ll see the same jungle-green palette in most of them.
That default is shifting. Across the design world, a moodier, higher-contrast botanical palette is taking over: deep burgundy, near-black, and velvety foliage that reads less like “nature, softened” and more like a deliberate design statement. Think the Rubber fig, with its glossy, wine-dark leaves, or Alocasia Black Velvet, whose matte, near-black foliage looks more like sculpture than shrubbery.
It solves the “sea of green” problem.
In minimalist interiors – white walls, neutral stone, matte black fixtures – standard greenery often just blends into a generic “plants are here” gesture. Dark foliage does the opposite. Against a pale, minimalist backdrop, burgundy and near-black leaves create real visual tension. They don’t soften a space; they change it.
It pairs naturally with where commercial design is already headed.
Moody, tonal, materially rich colours – brass, walnut, boucle, matte black – have been trending for a few seasons now. Bright green foliage often fights that palette, and dark foliage completes it.
It photographs (and feels) more premium.
There’s a reason this shift went viral before it went mainstream: high-contrast, jewel-toned foliage simply reads as more considered, more expensive, more intentional than the standard potted palm. For hospitality, retail, and corporate clients who care about how a space performs in person and on Instagram, that matters.
It’s a signal of design sophistication.
Choosing dark foliage over the expected green tells a client – and their clients – that the plant selection wasn’t an afterthought, it was considered design.
Dark foliage isn’t a wholesale replacement for green; it’s a tool for moments that need weight and drama:
The key is contrast. Dark foliage against a dark backdrop disappears. Placed against pale walls, light wood, or brushed metal, it becomes the thing people remember about the space.
Talking about the trend in the abstract only gets a brief so far. Here’s a selection of plants to use when a project calls for depth –Â grouped by the job each plant does in a display.
Rubber Tree, Burgundy (Ficus elastica ‘Burgundy’/’Ruby’) — the anchor plant of this whole trend. Broad, glossy, deep maroon-to-black leaves on a plant that can be grown as a tall single-stem tree or a bushier floor specimen. It tolerates lower light than most large-leafed tropicals and doesn’t need constant fussing, which makes it one of the few dark-foliage options that can genuinely live long-term and not a couple of weeks.
ZZ Plant ‘Raven’ (Zamioculcas zamiifolia ‘Raven’) — new growth emerges green and matures into an almost lacquered black-purple. It’s arguably the most forgiving plant on this list: low light, infrequent watering, and it still looks intentional. This is the one to specify for corridors, back-of-house areas, or any spot that won’t get regular hands-on maintenance but still needs to look designed.
Philodendron Black Cardinal / Imperial Red — compact, upright growers with thick, glossy leaves that deepen from red to near-black as they mature. Good bushy form makes them ideal for reception desks, meeting room credenzas, or anywhere you want colour and density at eye level rather than a big architectural leaf.
Alocasia Black Velvet (Alocasia reginula) — the plant that keeps showing up on every moodboard for this look, and for good reason: matte, near-black leaves with pale, ghostly veining that reads more like a sculptural object than a houseplant. It’s also the most demanding entry here – it wants consistent warmth and humidity and isn’t a “set and forget” plant – so it earns its place as a hero piece in a maintained display rather than a filler plant scattered around a room.
Peperomia caperata ‘Burgundy Ripple’ — small, deeply corrugated leaves in a rich aubergine-burgundy. Compact and slow-growing, so it’s a natural fit for desks, side tables, and smaller vignettes where you want texture without the plant taking over the surface.
Calathea/Goeppertia ‘Dottie’ — near-black leaves marked with a hot pink-magenta pinstripe pattern, plus the habit of folding up at night. It’s a strong pick where the brief calls for a bit more colour pop within the dark palette, but like most calatheas it wants steady humidity and is happiest in a well-tended display rather than a low-touch corner.
Rex Begonia ‘Black Mambo’ / ‘Red Bull’ — grown for the leaf, not the flower. ‘Black Mambo’ pairs near-black foliage with silvery highlights; ‘Red Bull’ leans into deep red-burgundy with darker edging. Both have showstopping pattern and colour, but rex begonias are the most delicate plants on this list – they’re best reserved for humidity-controlled terrariums, glasshouse features, or closely maintained tabletop displays rather than open-plan office floors.
Syngonium ‘Red Arrow’ / ‘Llano Carti Red’ — arrow-shaped leaves in deep red and burgundy tones on a plant that climbs or trails as it matures. This is the one to specify for shelving, plant walls, hanging installations, or anywhere you need the dark palette to move vertically instead of sitting in a pot.
Benholm doesn’t just supply plants; we design and build show-stopping custom planting displays built around a space’s lighting, sightlines, and brand – the kind of installation that becomes something a clients point to when they walk a prospective tenant or guest through the door. If you’re specifying planting for a project, we’d love to be the team that turns it into a genuine statement piece rather than just a nice-looking pot in the corner.
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