The White Garden in Landscape Design

One-Color Gardens the Gertrude Jekyll and Vita Sackville-West Way

Aug 13, 2009

The all-white garden is calming to the eyes. Its purity is beautiful in the landscape. White gardens are easily created in a small pocket of the garden or a long border.

The white garden has been popular for about about seventy years, ever since it was created by an aristocratic gardening duo in England. In 1930, Vita Sackville-West and her husband, Harold Nicholson bought a ruined castle in Kent with cottages and enough land to make a big garden. It was called Sissinghurst Castle. Over the next several years, they cleaned up the rubble and together, created a masterful space with gardens leading into gardens.

Vita's passion was a white garden, something she had always imagined and it became a stunning oasis, attracting visitors from all over the world.

Situating a White Flowered Garden

With white gardens, the possibilities are endless as there are many white flowers, herbs, flowering shrubs, vines and roses available. Gardeners should think about a location with a good dark green background, like a privet hedge or tall evergreens. This way the whites will be that much stronger, standing out against the the dark backdrop

Color Shades in the Foliage

Mix the color of leaves. In a white garden, you don't have to use only flowering plant material. There are many leafy plants to add for color variation and texture, but keep them soft. Color shades in the foliage is integral to a white garden design. Harsh burgundy or red leaves won't work in a white garden.

Gertrude Jekyll's View of One Colored Gardens

Gertrude Jekyll was a well-known English gardener and garden designer at the turn of the last century. She believed that while one-colored gardens were beautiful, they should not strictly adhere to that rule. In her view good garden taste should allow for small color additions. These additions break up the monotony and with good choices can lend themselves well the the beauty of the one-color garden.

Some Plants for a White Garden

The selection of plants for a white garden is huge, but it may be easiest to start with popular plants that are readily available.

Baby's Breath or Gypsophila paniculata, is a plant everyone knows. Sprays of these delicate flowers are always added to flower bouquets from the florist. And it's an easy plant to grow. It reaches 2' to 3' tall and just as wide. “Bristol Fairy” is a double white flower and will give you a lovely billowy plant in mid-summer. Hardy to Zone 4.

Clematis Hybrids “Henryi” has large white flowers in July. It is a vigorous grower, best thinned out by occasional pruning. Clematis is a flowering vine and will need a structure to climb. Hardy to Zone 4.

Regale Lily is a July-flowering, large, trumpet-shaped, white lily. It can grow from 3' to 5' with up to eight large flowers on the stem. These are found in bulb form, but can also be raised from seed. Hardy to Zone 4.

Delphiniums are available in many colors, but pick a white one for this purpose. The tall spikes of the flowers are perfect for a white garden. Can be bought from a nursery or started from seed indoors. Hardy to Zone 3.

Lily of the Valley makes an excellent ground cover and can be allowed to wander through the plantings. They have big leaves for texture and the tiny flowers themselves are very sweetly-scented. Can grow 6” to 12”. Hardy to Zone 3.

Artemesias are mentioned only for the pale green-blue or silver leaf adding contrast to the bed. Some varieties can grow to a few feet and they are a perfect fit for the white garden. Hardy to Zone 4.

White astilbe belongs in the shady corners. The feathery flowers are stunning. Astilbe will grow to 2' to 3'. Hardy to Zone 4.

Shasta Daisies are also a good addition. The flowers are big and it can grow to a few feet in height. Hardy to Zone 3.

Other white plant choices may include white Dianthus, sage for leaf color and textural contrast, irises, white lavender and also stachys lanata for leaf color and contrast. Think about shrubs also. White hydrangea, bridal wreath spirea and lilacs are all perfect additions to the white garden. All are hardy to Zone 4.

White Roses in the White Garden

Roses, both climbing and shrub, belong in every garden. Gardeners in zone 7 or higher, might consider rosa longicupis. This is a rose favored by Vita Sackville-West and it was the main feature in her white garden. Most good rose nurseries will have this. It's a huge rose and will cover an arbor in no time with masses of little white flowers.

If choosing antique roses, pick from the list of albas. Antique roses are smaller flowered but reminiscent of the of Dutch master paintings and the scent is very sweet. You'll want to study the catalogs for the roses that are right for your area and needs. Most antique roses are hardy to Zone 4.

Designing the White Garden

Study the nursery catalogues while planning and designing a white garden. They will offer some idea of when the plants flower as well as their ultimate height. Design for a succession of white throughout the season. In early spring, the gardener could have tulips and snowdrops, soon to be replaced by lilacs and irises and so on.

If the gardener has an empty corner in the back of her garden with a fence line of evergreens, it could be a good spot to create a white garden.

References

The Virago Book of Women Gardeners, Deborah Kellaway, Little Brown and Co. 1996

The copyright of the article The White Garden in Landscape Design in Theme Flower Gardens is owned by Lorraine Syratt. Permission to republish The White Garden in Landscape Design in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.