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White Adds Simple Elegance to a Garden

Written by Rhonda Ferree, retired horticulture educator

July brings us our seventh gardening trend for 2014: Simple Elegance: Think one color flower in an elegant container.

Many people think of a mono-chromatic color scheme as boring, but it can be quite impressive

The Garden Trend report focuses on white as a way to make your garden beds or containers stand out. In the report Kristine Lonergan from GreenProfit says, "White is the perfect palette to make color pop. The beauty of white is that is enhances any color!"

There are a myriad of plants with white flowers. With careful planning your flower bed can have white flowers throughout several seasons of the year. Start with white tulips, lilac, or narcissus in the spring. In the summer add hydrangea, rose, calla lily, Shasta daisy, vinca, iris, phlox, geranium, or clematis. Brighten fall with a white aster or mum. In the winter, white barked trees add a different dimension to the garden.

I think that white works especially well in containers. Thrillers add height to a container. White thrillers include geranium, canna, grasses, and calla lily. Fillers occupy the central portion of the container and spillers flow over the edge. Good fillers for containers comprise petunia, verbena, impatiens, snapdragon, begonia, and angelonia. White spillers consist of bacopa, dichondra 'Silver Falls," lobelia, dusty miller, alyssum, and white-leaved ivy.

Don't forget plants with white foliage. My white-edged hosta makes quite a show from a distance in the low light of my shade garden. White variegation in leaves is also available in ivy, dogwood, weigela, Solomon seal, grasses, euonymus, and much more.

For a special treat create a night gardens using all white flowers. White stands out at night and many white flowers are fragrant in the evening. Moonflowers (Ipomoea alba) are a relative of morning-glory. They open only in the evening so that they can be pollinated by night-flying moths.

The Angel's Trumpet (Datura spp.) is also called moon flower. This impressive flower is quite large. It grows on plants that reach 2-3 feet tall in one season. On warm summer nights the flowers are very fragrant. Beware though because all parts of this plant are poisonous.

Take your gardens to another level simply by adding the color white. White not only adds beauty but it also invokes a sense of coolness that calms the soul.

 

MEET THE AUTHOR

As horticulture educator, Rhonda Ferree inspired citizens in local communities to grow their own food and improve their home landscapes. She focused on high quality, impactful programs that taught homeowners how to create energy-efficient landscapes using sustainable practices that increase property values and help the environment.

After 30 years with University of Illinois Extension, Rhonda retired in 2018. She continues to share her passion for horticulture related topics as “Retro Rhonda” on social media.

ABOUT THE BLOG
ILRiverHort is a blog that helps people connect to nature and grow.