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Theme Gardens: The White Garden

© Barbara M. Martin

Please note: Thank you for visiting my Cottage Garden topic and reading my columns, published here from February 1997 through spring 2003! This Cottage Garden column was written by Barbara M. Martin and is Copyrighted by Barbara M. Martin. It may not be altered or copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part without specific permission from the author. I regret I am no longer actively editing or contributing to this suite101.com topic as of mid-2003. Happy Gardening!

Lots of rain this spring, and plenty of misty mornings and gray twilights to go with it. Looking out, I am wistful, edgy to garden, yet relieved to see the moisture after last year's terrible drought. Over the past week or so of raininess, I came to realize that one section of the garden in particular shone, early or late, wet or dry, sunny or dark: the white garden.

The "White Garden" glows with a shimmer all its own no matter the weather. No matter the time of day, its backdrop is a dark one, with the deep woods to one side and heavy dark green yew to the other. Against these permanent shadows, the whites cannot help but stand out and glisten. A sheer gleam of raindrops adds to the sparkle, and a heavy overcast sky or approaching dusk makes the white seem all the more magical in its brilliance.

This week, my white garden is filled with ranks and ranks of self sown white lunaria (the biennial "Honesty" in its alba form), one of the purest white tones available in the plant world. These striking blooms are matched by the white of the wild dogwoods along the edge of the woods, "Delaware Valley White" azaleas, and fragrant "Thalia" daffodils. In the near distance, across the bright Irish green spring lawn, the lunaria is echoed by the bright white yet pink-edged blooms of "Sugar Tyme" crabapples and fortuitously matching "Eskimo" viburnums.

The "Ultrabrite" white is reiterated, too, in repeated pools and edgings of "Purity" candytuft. Popping up here and there beneath the flowering shrubs, precious tiny white passalong violets seem dingy in comparison. So too do the white edged hostas and "Glacier" ivy appear to be cast now in pastel shades.

So why is this so remarkable? And why this universal appeal? To begin, consider color, or the psychology of color, in the garden.

Next, explore in more detail the concept and material qualities of White, The Presence of All Color.

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