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White is not a colour, my art teacher taught me.
For most people it is, though, and so what? For me white is very important, because the white sets off the vibrant fiery colours I so love to use (my orange and yellow nasturtiums in my balcony garden give me daily joy) and compliments the calming blues and lavenders I also love to use.
The famous white Sissinghurst garden in England was the first garden I saw (only in a book, alas) that was all white, and it sparked my imagination. So serene, so lovely.
But when I was shown an all-white garden by someone I know it was a disappointment to me. I thought it quite bland and boring! So why could Vita create such a wonderful garden and this enthusiastic Dutchman's creation fail to move me?
It is all in the colour green, I decided.
White needs green to offset it. Vita understood this, my friend did not. She had very sensible things to say about it too: "I like muddling things up; and if a herb looks nice in a border, then why not grow it there? Why not grow anything anywhere so long as it looks right where it is? That is, surely, the art of gardening."
Another thing about white flowers is that it is very hard to find a pure white flower. Most of them, if you look closely, have a hint of pink or a touch of green - the photo top left is a good example. From a distance this is a white flower! My friend had managed to choose proper all-white ones (roses and petunias mainly), which made his borders very ...the same. And not a green or silver-grey shrub in sight.
Now don't get me wrong! Taste is a matter of individuality, and I would never presume to have it and think someone else does not. It's just that his particular garden did not set my senses tingling, whereas photos of Sissinghurst make me sigh with admiration.
My own white border so far is a work in progress and by no means as I want it to be! For one it is more green than white and has huge bare patches where white flowers ought to be, but they have not shown themselves...The white clematis is drought-suffering, although it has produced two flowers ( in desperation, I think!) And the white salvias I planted last October have reverted to red! The white lillies (supposed to get 1 m tall) are still locked underneath that concrete I have to call soil and the white sweet william I thought I had bought turned out to be multi-coloured. The silvery-white plants whose name I have mislaid are doing great though, so they dominate at the moment. And the alysum is valiantly holding on, as well as the vinca minor. The glaucus silver-green artichokes are there, but due to that drought have hardly grown.
All are contrasted beautifully by blood red poppies, who have appeared absolutely everywhere - surprise!! Do I tear them out of my white border? Of course not. Would Vita have? Hm, her quote makes me wonder.
The good news is that it rained this Thursday morning. Two short sharp showers no less, and more predicted for this afternoon. My garden has burst out in ecstatic song, I am sure.
The other good news is I harvested my first strawberries. And more, many more to look forward to. Great, it evens out the 4 trays of seedlings I could throw on the compost heap because they had shrivelled up despite my daily watering.
Read more about my gardens at Instagram@songsmith2962 and Pixelfed@DutchDeltaWoman . Have a great day!
