White

Every shade of white …. no need for a white garden to be sterile, with coolness and warmth, blushes of yellow and pink, blue and lime. Keep the palette calm, with grey and silver foliage, add some soft yellows, blue-greys, to keep the colour scheme less static. Vary the shape, foliage, horizontals and verticals, for more drama …. and this little gallery is only the start.

I’ve been mining my old photographs, pretty much all of these, and from the Blue, Yellow and Orange recent posts, all from 2015. My, but I took a lot of photos that year…. There are, for many of the pictures, a name for the particular plant. If you want to know more, let me know.

White Gardens are iconic and there are so many fantastical examples that prove they work beautifully, but so often, and fie! forfend! they can be dull if poorly executed. Chalky whites are flat and a little lifeless – though I love Lychnis coronaria Alba for it’s bite. But sometimes, introducing muted shades of blush pink, palest lemon, blue, can relieve the monotony. And don’t forget the foliage, silvers and blue greys, metallic and furry, aromatic, soft, spiky, variegated, bold, bloomed, glossy and matt. And then there’s black …