Plant in full sun to light shade in most any soil type and give occasional irrigation. As with other Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis varieties this plant should prove hardy and evergreen to about 20-25 degrees F. Good for massing as a groundcover or used individually as an accent plant and has an excellent vase life as a cut flower up to 14 days.

The name Agapanthus is derived from the Greek words 'agapé', meaning "love" or "friendship" and 'anthos', meaning "flower" and it is for this reason that "Love Flower" is sometimes given as its common name, though there does not seem to be any colloquial usage of this name and the reason for naming as such remains unclear. Some have suggested that the translation could be interpreted as "lovely flower", "flower of love" or if the name originated from the word 'Agapeo' which means "to be contented with" it could just refer to a flower Charles Louis L'Héritier, who first used the name Agapanthus. A good accounting of this is presented by Wim Snoeijer in his Agapanthus: A Revision of the Genus Timber Press 2004 but essentially Carl Linnaeus (the father of modern taxonomy) in 1753 published the name Crinum africanum for a plant likely brought back to Holland from the Cape of Good Hope by the year 1679. In 1789 Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle, the Director of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, changed the name of this plant to Agapanthus but used the invalid specific epithet umbellatus instead of preserving Linnaeus species name africanus. This mistake has perpetuated naming problems within the genus ever since. In addition, the common "Lily of the Nile" is often used for this plant even though this plant originated in South Africa and not along the Nile River.

Agapanthus praecox ssp. orientalis 'Black Pantha' was the result of seedling selection from open pollinated Agapanthus praecox ssp. orientalis 'Blue' at Doncaster, Victoria in Australia by Graham Morrison in 1981. The seedling was characterized by a distinctive violet-blue flower color, which was darker than that of the original seed parent. This plant was first described in the Australian Plant Varieties Journal Volume 12 Number 1 in 1999 for a Plant Breeder's Rights application made in 1998 by Agapan Growers of Belgrave, Victoria and was first released for sale in Australia in 2002. In Wim Snoeijer's "Agapanthus: A Revision of the Genus" it is noted that the plant is sometimes called 'Black Panther'. We grew and sold this plant for only one year in 2008. 

Information displayed on this page about Agapanthus praecox ssp orientalis 'Black Pantha' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.