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Watch your garden glow. - by Jenny Dillon
A white garden is an exciting possibility in Australia – not just for your festive brunches and lunches, but also in the evenings when it glows under the moonlight and its perfumes can be at their most intoxicating.
Watch: Graham's favourite spring flowers
White gardens are rarely just white. Pops of colour come from yellow-centred daisies or pink-tinted fuchsias. Then there are the different shades of white, from cool, or warm and creamy, to the pale mellow yellow of vanilla or the luminous glow of ivory.
While foliage is the anchor of your floral display, it’s a point of contrast. Warm, limey greens can sit with dark olives, and silver or white foliage such as dusky miller can transform the ground into a whirl of lace.
How to design a white garden
Here's 8 tips for creating a white garden.
1. Add lots of greenery to make the white pop
Masses of green foliage in many shapes, textures and hues – from deep forest green to zesty lime – add energy to a garden. White is the ideal colour to go with green, as it instantly adds contrast and freshness.
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2. Add white furniture
A dreamy white daybed and table keep the white theme flowing when the greenery is dominant.
3. Add some yellow
Throw in pops of strong yellow in the form of a vase filled with sunflowers. The Easter lilies maintain the white theme.
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4. Add hydrangeas
No white garden is complete without bouncing bundles of hydrangeas spilling over a low box hedge. Mix the round balls of H. macrophylla alongside conical-shaped H. paniculata. They begin flowering in spring and can last through to autumn, especially if you deadhead them when they begin to fade. This means your shrubs will produce more blooms instead of putting their energy into producing seeds.
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Tips for growing white hydrangeas
Hydrangeas are an easy way to add white to your garden, as there are so many types (see below).
While they can show green or cream hints, they maintain their whiteness whatever your soil pH. So if yours go pink or blue, they aren’t true white.
- If you do want colour, you get pink hydrangeas when your soil is alkaline. You can get deeper pinks or red pompoms bouncing off big, lush leaves by adding lime to soil.
- If you prefer blue flowers, turn your soil acidic by adding aluminium sulphate.
- You can get both of these at nurseries.
5. Hanging baskets
White geraniums in window boxes and a hanging basket are an obvious choice, but the perfect touch is the variegated white and green ivy falling from the tub of hydrangeas.
6. Choose pavement over grass
A huge benefit of paving is you can use different sizes and colours to create beautiful and intriguing designs. There are no limits to your creativity!
7. Add some fragrant flowers
Not all hydrangeas are perfumed – although H. paniculata does have a strong scent – so mix roses in with them to create a sensual, fragrant garden.
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8. Try going vertical
It’s an old idea but it still works to great effect if you mass your plants on the steps of an old wooden ladder. White geraniums highlight the delicate appearance of the flowers, something that’s not apparent with the bright red ones. a box hedge maintains its green colour all yearround.
Which hydrangea is best for you?
Hydrangea macrophylla
Flower shape -Large balls up to 20cm wide in summer.
Size - 2H x 1.5mW.
Aspect - Shady spot sheltered from hot sun and wind.
Soil - Rich and well-drained.
Water - Keep soil moist.
Food - Organic slow-release fertiliser in late spring.
Hydrangea arborescens
Flower shape - Prolific masses of large flower heads up to 30cm wide from spring to summer.
Size - 1-2H x 1-2mW.
Aspect - Part shade, but tolerates more sun than macrophyllas.
Soil - Rich and well-drained.
Water - Keep soil moist.
Food - Organic slow-release fertiliser in spring/summer.
Hydrangea paniculata
Flower shape - Dainty, lacy upright spikes or panicles of white flowers in summer.
Size - 2-3H x 2-3mW.
Aspect - Full sun orpart shade.
Soil - Rich and well-drained.
Water - Keep soil moist.
Food - Organic slow-release fertiliser in spring.
Hydrangea quercifolia
Flower shape - Spikes from oak-leaf-shaped foliage in spring and early summer.
Size - 1.5-2H x 1.5-2mW.
Aspect - Part shade.
Soil - Rich and well-drained.
Water - Keep soil moist.
Food - Slow-release fertiliser in spring and summer.
Hydrangea petiolaris
Flower shape - A climbing hydrangea that produces masses of white lace-cap flowers from springto summer.
Size - 5-10H x 3mW.
Aspect - Part shade.
Soil - Rich and well-drained.
Water - Keep soil moist.
Food - Organic slow-release fertiliser in late winter or early spring.
Hydrangeas bring light to the shady spots in your garden with their bright, booming and long-lasting summer blooms
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More white flowers to plant in your garden
- Chinese star jasmine
- Lobularia
- Sweet alyssum
- Swan River daisy
- Shasta daisy
- Azalea
- Convolvulus
- Chrysanthemum
- Frangipani
- Easter lily
- White fuchsia
- Queen Anne’s lace
- Dahlia
- Petunia
- Japanese windflower
- NZ rock lily
- Orchid
- Calla lily
- Magnolia
- Lily of the valley
You might also like:
How to grow gardenias
How to grow and care for clivias
How to grow and care for wattle
Jenny Dillon is the garden editor of Better Homes and Gardens. Her passion for gardening began in her mother’s huge vegetable patch and orchard in the country and now extends to the challenge of city plots, where the constraints are countered by the delights.
