Blackberry Is Back: The Season's Deepest Rose
Blackberry is back.
Every year there is one shade the inbox asks for before we have announced anything. For four seasons running it has been this one: the deep berry rose that photographs almost black, sells out first and gets described to our stylists as "the dark one."
What color is a Blackberry Eternity® Rose?
Blackberry is a deeply saturated berry shade with undertones of plum and violet. It reads as a very dark wine in daylight and as near-black in low light, without the flatness of a dyed black rose. It is dark, dimensional and distinctly unexpected for fall.
The color comes from ripe blackberries, dark plum skins and the violet shadow that gathers in a garden as it moves into evening. It is the cool half of our fall palette, where Burgundy is the warm half. Both sit together in Fall Blooms.
Is there such a thing as a black rose?
No, not in nature. No rose produces true black pigment. The roses sold as black are either very deep red or maroon cultivars — Black Baccara, Black Magic, Black Beauty — or fresh white roses that have been dyed, which is why dyed black roses look chalky and bleed onto everything they touch.
Blackberry is our honest answer to that search. It is a real rose whose natural pigment sits at the darkest end of what a rose can actually do, and the plum and violet in it are what keep it looking like a flower rather than a prop. In a shadowed room it will read black. In your hand it reads berry.
How to style Blackberry
A dark rose needs contrast or it disappears. Three pairings that work:
Against black porcelain. Counterintuitive, and the best of the three. Our Black Porcelain vessels are fully pigmented rather than painted, so the vase reads as matte depth and the petals read as light against it. Start with the Amphora in Blackberry; for a dining table, the lower, footed Tazza in Blackberry; for a desk or nightstand, the Sylvie in Blackberry.
Against stone or marble. The Gia Marble Vase in Midnight Berry pairs blackberry roses with hydrangeas in black and white marble. It gives the arrangement weight and a hard edge, which keeps a dark floral from tipping into gothic.
In the classic hat box. Blackberry in the Large Round Black Classic or the Small Round Black Classic is the most giftable way into the season, and the version most people send. If the room is all curves, the Large Square Black Classic in Blackberry gives you a straight line. The gold embossing is what stops black on black from going flat.
Where Blackberry appears this season
- Eternity® Roses — the icon, in the season's deepest shade, across every hat box size and all three Black Porcelain silhouettes. Shop Eternity® Roses.
- Eternity® Hydrangeas — Blackberry in full volume, layers of berry, plum and shadow across a naturally sculptural silhouette. The Thalia Porcelain Vase in Blackberry Smoke and the Terre Travertine Vase in Blackberry Smoke. Shop Eternity® Hydrangeas.
- Nocturne Rosé — Blackberry Eternity® Hydrangeas grounding the new Cerise Noir peony, with two-tone Eternity® Roses and caspia for movement. In the Gia Marble Vase, the Large Round Black Classic and The Grand Venus.
Frequently asked questions
What color are Blackberry Eternity® Roses?
A deeply saturated berry with plum and violet undertones. In daylight they read as very dark wine; in low light they read close to black. They are real preserved roses, not dyed.
Are there real black roses?
No. No rose produces true black pigment. Roses sold as black are either very deep red cultivars or dyed white roses. Blackberry is a natural dark berry shade, which is the closest a real rose gets.
How long do Blackberry Eternity® Roses last?
A year. They are real roses preserved at peak bloom, so they need no water and no sunlight. Keep them out of direct sun and away from humidity to hold the color.
What goes with dark red or berry flowers?
Black porcelain, marble and stone. A dark floral needs a hard or matte surface for contrast; pale wood and glass tend to wash it out. Gold accents keep black-on-black arrangements from reading flat.
Do dark preserved roses fade?
Deep pigments are the most demanding to preserve, which is why placement matters. Out of direct sunlight and away from humidity, Blackberry holds its saturation for a full year.