We all see color differently, but it’s rare to find someone who can’t see white. That’s because white, like sunlight, is composed of all the colors of the visible spectrum. In the garden, white plants reflect light, instantly brightening a shady area. And an all-white garden is a symphony of light, where flowers and foliage come together in a succession of harmonious arrangements.

SIX KEYS TO DESIGNING A WHITE GARDEN

Unlike your typical garden, a white garden tends to be color-less. As a result, it must depend on plant shape, size and texture to make up its structure. It’s all about capturing the details.

How do you do this? First, by playing up contrasts between dark and light. Second, by creating pattern and repetition. Last, by establishing a sense of rhythm and movement. These are the elements that make a white garden interesting.

The interplay between dark and light make a white garden interesting

In designing for my clients, I have returned again and again to these principles. Here are six keys to creating a successful white garden.

1. CHOOSE A DARK BACKDROP

A dark background makes white ‘pop.’ It follows that positioning a white garden in front of a hedge only increases its impact. Dense green shrubs like boxwood, holly or yew all provide great backdrops. And dark-toned doors, black gates, and houses painted in brown, green or gray can also serve as strong frameworks. 

Below, a white metal bench makes a sharp statement against a dark green hedge, illustrating the effect.

White ‘pops’ against a dark backdrop

2. VARY THE FOLIAGE

Leaves come in countless colors, shapes and sizes and exhibit many different types of surfaces. As a bonus, glossy leaves reflect more light than matte. I’ve found that varying foliage is a great way to add texture and contrast to a white garden. 

A Mediterranean garden with different textured foliage

And if you really want to play up the contrast between dark and light, choose variegated foliage. From a distance, leaves with cream or white markings can mirror the look of white flowers. What’s more, they keep ‘blooming’ long after other plants have expired. 

Variegated foliage plays up dark and light

3. CHANGE UP SHAPES AND SIZES

A sense of rhythm helps create movement in a single-color garden. And you can accomplish this by varying plant shapes and sizes. I use tall flowers to establish vertical lines and rounded plants to create horizontal flow. By repeating these groupings, I set up rhythmic patterns that the eye follows naturally, making for a pleasing composition. 

Tall spires of white delphiniums

4. REPEAT FORMS

Like rhythmic patterns, repeated forms serve to unify a composition. To achieve this effect, I’ll often create groups of a particular plant and then use similar-looking plants to repeat its form elsewhere in the garden.

For instance, many roses bear a resemblance to peonies while also echoing the flower heads of Annabelle hydrangeas. On the smaller side, Boltonia asteroides looks a lot like miniature Shasta daisies. And within the iris family, the elegant flowers of ‘Immortality’ echo those of the more diminutive Japanese iris ‘White Swirl’ to dramatic effect.

White peony

White garden roses

5. ADD SOME BLING TO YOUR WHITE GARDEN

Every garden can use a little bling. Silver-toned plants not only reflect light, but they also ease the transition from one plant to another. I’ll often plant velvety ‘Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’ at the front of a border for contrast. Or for added drama, I’ll site Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ in the middle of the garden where its silvery, fern-like leaves provide a great complement to other dark green, broad-leaved perennials.

Silvery stachys provides soft contrast in a white garden in Maryland

6. DEADHEAD OFTEN AND FILL IN WITH ANNUALS

The one downside to white flowers is that when they fade, they rapidly turn brown. For this reason, I deadhead all my flowers regularly to maximize blooms. Once a plant stops flowering entirely, I cut it to the ground and fill in with white-flowering annuals. These include snapdragons, sweet alyssum, nicotiana, angelonia and pompom dahlias.

White snapdragon

GREAT PLANTS FOR WHITE GARDENS

Here are some of my favorite shrubs and perennials for creating a white garden. 

SHRUBS

• Hydrangea arborescens, ‘Annabelle’
• Mock Orange ‘Snow White Sensation’
• Potentilla ‘Abbotswood’
• Azalea ‘Delaware Valley White’
• Common Snowball Viburnum
• Gardenia ‘Crown Jewel’
• ‘Iceberg’ floribunda rose

PERENNIALS

• Delphinium ‘Centurion White’
• Phlox paniculata ‘David’
• Iris germanica ‘Immortality’
• Allium ‘Mount Everest’
• Leucanthemum x superbum ‘Summer Snowball’
• Iris reticulata (Siberian) ‘White Caucasaus’
• Paeonia ‘Duchesse de Nemours’
• Salvia ‘Summer Jewel White’
• Anenome ‘Honorine Jobert’
• Aquilegia ‘Tower White’
• Iberis sempervirens ‘Snowflake’
• White yarrow
• Hemerocallis ‘Gentle Shepherd’
• Hosta ‘Patriot’