Vita was at least as much of a writer as she was a gardener; she was as inspired by descriptions of gardens as by the gardens that she visited. It is quite possible that her White Garden was inspired by descriptions of the white gardens that had been created hundreds of years earlier in Moghul India, such as the Mehtab Bagh opposite the Taj Mahal. These gardens were intended to be at their most beautiful when illuminated by a full moon, and that was also the main idea behind Sissinghurst's white garden. Harold was friends with Edwin Lutyens, who was very involved in the design of New Delhi. Lutyens was as interested in the design of gardens as he was in architecture, so even if Vita wasn't familiar with Moghul gardens through her own reading, she probably heard about them from Lutyens. I see Sissinghurst's White Garden as a Moghul garden with a British accent. The flowers are chosen from among those plants that grow well in England and the emphasis on gray foliage is characteristic of British gardens since the impact of Gertrude Jekyll's color theories, but the basic dream is Moghul. That may be why Sissinghurst's White Garden is more successful than the many white gardens that it has inspired. Most white gardens are just collections of white flowers, while Vita's white garden is an exotic and romantic dream.
In my next article, I will be writing about the entry courtyard which functioned as the Nicolson's grand entry hall.
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