The lable for Mystique Black is of the unopened blooms.According to more info the plant stays like this for quite a long time before it fully blooms



Full blooms Mistique Black


I agree its annoying to not get the true color. Color is important to many gardeners.
The full blooming one is still great for my purposes.

And I didn't even notice it had the dark leaves. Better yet.

It's very unusual. It might improve with better light too.

I'm going to Lowes tonight to see if the Mistique Black is here on the west coast. I think it's really pretty. I'm not hopeful because they never got the three heucheras Bob was talking about.
The pictures are great.

Ok. I went back and bought one today. Of course, I picked the one with the most stalks so I could take a few divisions off when planting it.

I would have done the same thing.

They look at me like I'm crazy or something. I really do count the stalks of every plant I buy. It has to have 5-7 minimum. LOL.

They do not have it at the Lowe's by me , maybe later.

It looks nothing like those two photos posted above by Jo Ann. They are doctored to look darker. After I got home, I compared it to another Phlox I have and the buds are no darker either! I think they are trying to pull one over on people. It does smell good though. I wouldn't buy one if you expect those black buds. Even the photo of the opened blooms is faked to make it look darker.

My Lowes has none! Oh well, some day! Even if the blooms are not that dark I like the dark foliage.

Here is a brightened image of MB bloom from above.


It still looks good to me. The Mystique series are not tall garden phlox. They are around 20 inches.

20 inches, well that's one good thing! They should still stop doctoring photos, it's a form of deception. Also some exaggerate on the zones, but if it is a new plant there is no where to look it up, you basically have to take their word for it.

Many nursery websites buy their images from a central photo bank which is why you see the same image under different vendors websites.
Its the photographers fault and I doubt they are garden people,just take jobs to photo plants.
I have seen many transgressions in tone and color especially when the vendor wants a dark purple flower to look really dark.I bought Purple Prince lily and when it bloomed it was pink,same with Midnight lily.That was the last time I trusted anyone and now look at the leaves to see how dark they are in sunlight. I put the image in Photoshop and ajust the leaf color and voila the flower color changes.

Wow, I don't have photo smart. Is it expensive? If the plant is new how can their be any true images, seems like the information and pictures are from breeder, like Terra Nova or Walters. I always look for the real life images, on forums and websites like DG, ATP. There are hundreds of people wanting to show off their (real life) pictures.
But also wrong information can give bigger sales figures if they exagerate zones and forget to tell you important things, like can the plant deal with humidity. There is a big difference between Texas and Virginia but we share zone 8.

I also use Picasa which is free.
I am sooooo much more cautious now than when I started 4 years ago.

I tried picasa but didn't get anywhere. I don't have a lot of time to spend on these things. If it's complicated I just leave.

Besides Windows 7 has 'Windows Live Photo Gallery' built right in and that is easy and I use it 99% of the time. I also have program called 'Paint' but I never got the hang of it, hardly ever use.

Mystique Black is still beautiful. I understand it's forte is that it holds the buds closed for a long time, and they contrast against the flowers. And the dark leaves are impressive, I'm not familiar with another phlox with the dark on the leaves. I still really like it. Can't wait until mine bloom.

Virginia rose, I can answer your question about new plants. A nursery near me gets the Terra Nova plants and others a few years before they are introduced and available to us. I went back to where they are trialing the plants and took some pictures. I think it's terrific that they trial plants in harsh places like Kansas, because if they can survive our extremes, that's a good sign. Of course, there's other criteria, such as insects and diseases that we don't have, so a plant I think is great may not be so great when they trial it in Oregon or Pennsylvania.
I bought some big beautiful bright orange petunias, yes petunias, not calibrochoa, and saw some other cool phlox that will be out in a few years.
Kansas State University horticulture department runs plant trials under no irrigation, and I've seen all sorts of new plants under study at Oklahoma State in Stillwater. We have some trial fields in Wichita, too. I would never garden under the extreme conditions they use for trials. They only get rainwater!

I would love to tour some of the trial fields! I love the old tried and true, but I also need something new yearly.

They are open to the public every day. I'll see if I can get down there to take photos. They plant several of each plant in long rows in a field. You can compare side by side. Master gardeners and students get to evaluate them as part of training. They do the same with grasses, trees, everything.
Last summer was so extreme nothing looked good. Hopefully this year there will be more to look at.
It's also fun to see what does get introduced and what names they are given. They also have fields of plants that have been introduced, and now they're in competition for "Prairie Stars" designation.
Take a look at this:
http://www.johnson.ksu.edu/p.a...
Polly, you know you've been wanting to come out here anyway....