Garden Inspiration: White Garden Vignettes

1.  Jenny's White Garden at Fearrington Village.
Pittsboro, North Carolina. March 2012

2.  Duke Gardens, Duke University.
Durham, North Carolina. July 2011

3.  Duke Gardens. July 2011

4.  Central Park, New York City. June 2011

5.  Musée des Impressionismes, Giverny, France. May 2009.

6.  In a Paris, France park. April 2011

Sprinkles, masses or entire gardens—the use of white flowers can be a huge success or a total fail. These six inspirations were gathered on visits to gardens at home and abroad.

1. Jenny's White Garden at Fearrington Village changes with the seasons. Since this is located only five minutes from my home, I've seen the changes. In early spring, the white blooms are primarily daffodils and other spring bulbs.
2. I've seen the Page-Rollins White Garden at Duke Gardens only in the heat of July where it was splendid in the 90+°F heat of the summer sun. There are succulents, perennials and annuals as well as foliage plants. I've not located a list of their plantings as this section of the garden is very new.
3. The yucca container in the center was surrounded by sweet alyssum, a plant that I grow from seed that overwintered here in my zone7b garden during our mild winter of 2011.
4. White hydrangeas and large, blue hostas provided a cool vignette in the shade on a hot June day in Central Park, New York City.
5. For more information on the black and white flower garden, see my story about the Musée des Impressionismes in Giverny, France.
6. Walking through a random park in Paris, France, I photographed these white tulips underplanted with white forget-me-nots.

For my own garden, I've started a small vignette using phlox 'David', Japanese iris 'Mount Fuji', sweet alyssum and snapdragon 'La Bella' white. A nandina 'Alba' is the only shrub. I've sown seeds for white moon vine to climb the fence behind this grouping. Outside the fence, three large oakleaf hollies provide the dark green backdrop.  I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

I love fragrance and there are some white flowers that do not disappoint! The sweet alyssum smells like honey. Ginger, gardenia, jasmine and sweet bay magnolia are other fragrant plants in my garden.

With hot summers, the idea of enjoying the garden in evenings with cool temperatures is hugely appealing. White flowers can add sparkling magic to a garden in the evening. Added fragrance and good paths for meandering in the dark enhance the experience.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.