Dreaming of a White Garden

Gardening Sweet Spots
By Donna Hessel

I love the idea of a “white garden.”  Whether a designated area among other garden “rooms,” or planted in containers on a deck or balcony, a garden to be enjoyed after dark on a moonlit night is a dream that many gardeners have.

The dream has roots that originated in England in 1930. Moon gardens planted with white and silvery flowers that glow after dark became an early 20th century trend in both the U.S. and Europe.

After having a dream about a garden that shimmered in twilight, Vita Sackville-West created a white garden at Sissinghurst Castle that today remains England’s most visited garden. The Sissinghurst Castle Garden in the Weald of Kent, England, was the 16th-century home of the prolific English writer Vita Sackville-West and her husband, British politician and diplomat, Harold Nicolson. They purchased it in 1930. Over the next 30 years, working with, and later succeeded by, a series of notable head gardeners, she and Nicolson transformed the former farmstead into one of the world’s most influential gardens. Following Sackville-West’s death in 1962, the estate was donated to the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty and is open for the public to enjoy. 

Archeologists have unearthed the ruins of a lost garden at the Taj Mahal where night blooming white flowers filled the air with perfume in the 17th century. The evidence helped solve a mystery dating to ancient Persia: what makes a moonlight garden? Among the clues found at the Taj Mahal were charred bits of ancient flowering fruit trees, shards of pale sandstone decorated with a delicate lotus design, and the faint outline of an octagonal pool where more than two dozen fountains once sprayed water into the night air. The plan then, as now, was to create a luminous glow of white, silver and gray to reflect the moonlight.

Creating Your White Garden
Select a Site. You don’t need to plant your entire yard in moon garden plants. Much better to select a small section of a patio or deck, or a secluded corner of the yard that can be transformed into a night garden and will become a viewing vantage point. To emphasize the celestial theme, include plants with star-shaped flowers or create crescent-shaped planting beds. Site the garden in an open area to allow for stargazing and moonlight illumination and where it is accessible for strolling. Note how the light and shadow of moonlight can enhance the mystique of the garden plot. Make sure there is a strong background behind the garden. A deep green hedge would be perfect to set off white flowers, but a dark fence or painted wall would work as well. A painted lattice could also support vines with white flowers. Use light-colored stone materials such as pebbles, flagstone, or white marble chips to accentuate garden areas. Make sure paths can be easily navigated at night for safety. If a path for strolling is added, use white gravel to outline it or install light-colored flagstone to walk on. 

  A dark background makes white flowers pop.

Adding Accessories.  Be sure there is a comfortable chair or bench in the plot or on the deck or patio. Add a small table on which to set a cup of tea or glass of wine as you lose yourself in the garden for meditation or relaxation. A votive candle or solar lantern will add subtle illumination when the moon is not bright. Add string lights over a patio or along a fence, uplight nearby trees or wind battery powered twinkle lights in branches of surrounding trees. Decorative accents such as a gazing ball, metallic wall art or light-colored statuary will enhance your space. Include elements to pique all of your senses.  A small fountain or waterfall with the soothing sound of moving water will also reflect the moonlight. Creating a natural habitat will invite creatures such as crickets and frogs, adding their soothing sounds. Ornamental grasses or bamboo will gently rustle in the evening breezes. Night-blooming flowers that release fragrance add another sensory element.

Selecting Plants. Choose plants with different sizes, structures and leaf shapes. Use a mix of white-flowered perennials, annuals, bulbs, roses and vines. Variegated or plants with silvery foliage will lend contrast, texture and visual interest. Include different shades of white flowers because a white flower may contain traces of cream, pale pink or blue, which will be more noticeable when placed next to a pure white flower. Green or silver foliage between off-white and pure white plants will help to set them off.

Choose a few primary plants rather than a lot of different varieties to simplify the garden design. Group them together in drifts of three or five for maximum impact. The larger groupings will show up better in the dark. Choose plants that will bloom at different seasons if you plan to enjoy your garden year-round. Include plants with white- or silver-marked foliage that will provide a consistent glow as white flowers pass in and out of bloom. Add vertical interest with vines growing up a trellis. Include plants in containers to add height or special interest or fragrance to the area.

The variegated leaves on this hosta provide a constant glow.

Following are some white flowering plants you might consider for your moon garden:

For Spring Blooms 

• Shrubs and trees: false goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus), kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa); many magnolias and rhododendrons; mock oranges (Philadelphus spp.) 
• Perennials: bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia ‘Alba’); lupines (Lupinus); peonies; beardstongue (Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’)  
• Bulbs: crocus; snowdrops (Galanthus spp.); daffodils (Narcissus cvs.); tulips  
• Annuals: sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima); spoon flower (Osteospermum cvs.) 

For Summer and Autumn Flowers

• Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora); Anenome (try ‘Honorine Jobert’); Astilbe; camellias; clematis; cleome; dahlia; foxgloves (Digitalis spp.); white coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’); miss wilmot’s ghost (Eryngium); Gaura lindheimeri; Hydrangea paniculata; lilies (such as ‘Casa Blanca’); gardenia; flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata); border phlox (i.e., ‘David’); montauk and shasta daisies; Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Alba’

These are plant supplier Proven Winners suggestions:  weigela (Weigela florida ‘My Monet’); Rosa spp. ‘Iceburg Rose’); Artemisia (Artemisia hybrid ‘Powis Castle’); caladium (Caladium Hortulanum ‘Heart to Heart’ or ‘White Wonder’); phlox (Phlox paniculata ‘David’); euphorbia (Euphorbia hybrid “Diamond Frost’); dichondra (licorice) (Dichondra argentea “Silver Falls’);  lily (Lilium hybrid ‘Casa Blanca’); moon flower (Ipomoea alba); flowering tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris) 

Foliage favorites 

• agave; Japanese painted fern; Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla); caladium; sedges (Carex spp.)
• shrubby dogwood (such as Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’); cyclamen; hosta; variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegata’); lungwort (Pulmonaria spp.); sedum; yucca

Many silver and gray foliage plants have fuzzy leaves that will provide a textural contrast to bright white flowers and create a backdrop that will make the white flowers even more eye-catching.

• artemisia (Artemisia sp.); dusty miller (Senecio cineraria); caladium (Caladium hortulanum ‘Heart to Heart); Dusty Miller (Senecio cineraria)
• Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantina)
• Lavender Cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus L.)
• Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’)
• Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

If you build a path along your garden, particularly if paved in pale concrete or stone, select low-growing white flowers to provide a bright edge. You can also create a white walkway within an all-white garden by adding plants such as these:

• sweet alyssum; candytuft; petunias, impatiens, lobelia

White Container Gardens.  If your garden is limited to deck or patio containers, consider these combinations (suggested by plant source Proven Winners) to provide the ambience you desire.

For large containers:

• Diamond frost (Euphorbia hybrid)  and white impatiens or (evening-fragrant) petunias 
• White snapdragons, diamond frost (Euphorbia hybrid), white supertunias 
• Livingstone Daisy (Dorotheanthus bellidiformis) Mezoo™ trailing red, licorice plant (Helichrysum petiolare); verbena hybrid superbena “Whiteout” 
• Angelface™  Angelonia hybrid “Wedgewood Blue,” licorice plant Dichonra argentea, Euphorbia hybrid “diamond Snow,” SunPatiens™ “Compact White”
• Verbena hybrid superbena “Whiteout,” Euphorbia hybrid “Diamond Mountain,” Snowstorm™ Sutera cordata “Giant Snowflake”™

For an urn: 

• caladium (Caladium hortulanum ‘Heart to Heart’); rose begonia (Begonia benariensis ‘Surefire’); euphorbia hybrid ‘Diamond Frost’); Petunia (Petunia hybrid Supertunia Vista ‘Silverberry’)

If you like hanging baskets, these include a color plus white flowers:

• (Yellow and White combo) two each of Supertunia Mini Vista, White Petunia hybrid, Verbena hybrid, Superbena ‘Whiteout,’ Calibrachoa hybrid Superbells ‘Lemon Slice’
• (Purple and white combo) Two each of Diamond Frost Euphorbia hybrid, Verbena hybrid Superbena ‘Whiteout’ and one of Petunia hybrid Supertunia Latte

 Plant a white garden to enjoy after dark because relaxing during the day just doesn’t happen if you’re an avid gardener. Even with the best intentions to sit down and relax a bit, that random bare branch needs pruning and the weeds that don’t stop popping up in all the wrong places absolutely need immediate attention. And once you’ve remedied those, you see that there is always more to be done. For even better moonlit experiences in your new white garden, invite some friends to join you, and savor a glass of wine!

 

Photos courtesy pexels.com