Enchant the garden with white flowers.

An all-white garden doesn’t always stand up well under our harsh midsummer sun. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use white to make the garden glow at night or lighten shade areas.

White flowers lead the eye, especially at night. White also helps small gardens to look bigger. More than any other colour, white highlights the texture, shape and colour of foliage plants.

The most effective way to use white in the garden is to tuck it in among other flowers and foliage or against a backdrop of evergreen shrubs.

Why not try a fragrant border of white alyssum, an eye-catching arrangement of containers filled with white impatiens or white gaura threaded through a flower bed.

Beautiful borders

White impatiens as a border gives shape to this shady area of the garden and draws the eye right to the end. It glows against the deep green lawn. Impatients ‘Beacon’ or Sunpatiens are both showy disease resistant impatiens varieties.

Beacon is a typical bedding variety, low growing and compact that flowers non-stop until winter. Sunpatiens ‘Compact White’ is a bit taller growing 70cm high and 60cm wide. It easily fills a large patio container and is also a feature plant for the garden.

Other low growing, compact white flowering plants like alyssum, begonias, petunias, nemesia, and violas are also effective as borders, helping to emphasise the shape and flow of a garden bed.

Silver lining

Silvery foliage plants have the same effect as white flowers. They can also  be used to tone down bright colours and will stand out against a green backdrop. Most like to grow in full sun.

The two silvery plants in this planting are Helichrysum (behind) and Senecio Candicans ‘Angel Wings’ which has huge touchable leaves that are as soft as the ears of a rather large puppy.

This plant holds its shape beautifully even though it grows up to 60cm high and wide. It should not be over-watered. It mixes well with red and white dahlias, petunias and pelargonium as well as shades of blue and purple cineraria, petunias and calibrachoa.

Made for shade

White flowers have many practical attributes. They lighten shady corners, tone down harsh colours, add life to a dull bed or boring part of the garden and lead the eye, giving direction in large gardens.

Begonias are easily the lowest maintenance flowers for semi-shade. They range from bedding begonias for the front of a bed to shrubby Begonia Big (picture) and MegaWatt  to the hedge-like Dragon Wings. Begonias look as if they are water-guzzlers but that is misleading. Over-watering rather than underwatering tends to kill begonias. They grow in ordinary garden soil that drains well and don’t like wet feet. They flower non-stop and don’t need deadheading. They also grow well in containers, which can be used as accents in a shady garden.

Mix and match

Red flowers bring energy into the garden but the darker colours can vanish, especially at night. Adding white petunias and the silvery Senecio ‘Angel Wings’ shows up the red flowers in all their various shades.

What’s nice about white is that it stands out and yet never clashes. The use of different types of white flowers together also makes an arrangement of plants more interesting. In this combination white ‘Easy Wave’ petunias cascade downwards, while a pocket of white Shasta daisies (Snow Lady) show off their yellow centres and calibrachoa Cabaret white adds a delicate nuance with its smaller blooms.

Petunia ‘Easy Wave’ is a ground cover but with a mounded and controlled spread, so it doesn’t need to be cut back. It is more suitable for smaller gardens or spaces. It performs best in sun, in well-drained soil and provides almost instant colour. Don’t over-water and fertilise every two to three months to keep plants healthy.

Patio perfect

White flowers are self-illuminating, so are ideal planted by a patio or outdoor dinging area where they will stand out at night, like this container filled with Impatiens Beacon white.

Another aspect to consider for intimate spaces or small gardens, is to choose unusual white plants that invite closer inspection, such as a double Shasta daisy, a white Inca lily or a pot filled with the tiny white ‘baby’s breath’ type flowers of Euphorbia Breathless (picture below)

Euphorbia ‘Breathless’ is also an excellent bed filler staying compact at 40cm but with a 60cm spread. The effect of three or five plants, with their myriad of white flower bracts, has the same charm as Baby’s Breath. It grows in sun to semi-shade, is heat tolerant, water wise and needs almost no care.

Delightful daisies

White daisies always show up well and Shasta daisies and Argyranthemum are good garden performers. Plant a swathe of daisies to lead the eye deeper into the garden or away from an unsightly part of the garden.

Look out for ‘Snow Lady’ a dwarf Shasta variety (35cm high and wide) or ‘Victorian Secret’ that grows to knee height with ruffled white blooms. The double white Argyranthemum Madeira grows into a rounded bush that is unmissable, especially at night. Both flower best with full sun.

Good idea: Plant more pale flowers. These are easier for insects to see once the sun has gone down, so you will get more night-time insects, and a higher chance of bats.