White Flowers' Beauty Won't Fade When Sun Goes Down
Keith Hansen
Summers in Texas are really hot, and while an avid gardener is willing to get hot and sweaty tending a garden, the goal is to comfortably enjoy your gardening creation.
Dusk is typically the best time of day to be outside, but many flowers will fade into the grays of twilight. White flowers, however, tend to stand out long after the sun sets.
The white garden at the famous Sissinghurst Castle near London, England, has inspired many white theme gardens to be experienced and enjoyed in the evening and on moonlit nights. The garden's creator, Vita Sackville-West, intended that garden to be monochromatic, filled only with plants with white or gray foliage and flowers.
After a long day at work, it is nice to be outside in a garden setting, after the heat of the day has abated somewhat, when the sun is low in the sky or has slipped below the horizon. Armed with mosquito repellant, some time in the garden in the evening can be relaxing and restful.
But, I also like to see at least some of my plants! That's when white flowering plants take the spotlight. This year in my garden white impatiens light up in the evening, illuminated by a nightlight and moonlight.
Dusk is typically the best time of day to be outside, but many flowers will fade into the grays of twilight. White flowers, however, tend to stand out long after the sun sets.
The white garden at the famous Sissinghurst Castle near London, England, has inspired many white theme gardens to be experienced and enjoyed in the evening and on moonlit nights. The garden's creator, Vita Sackville-West, intended that garden to be monochromatic, filled only with plants with white or gray foliage and flowers.
After a long day at work, it is nice to be outside in a garden setting, after the heat of the day has abated somewhat, when the sun is low in the sky or has slipped below the horizon. Armed with mosquito repellant, some time in the garden in the evening can be relaxing and restful.
But, I also like to see at least some of my plants! That's when white flowering plants take the spotlight. This year in my garden white impatiens light up in the evening, illuminated by a nightlight and moonlight.
(Courtesy Photo By Keith Hansen)
WHITE BEAUTY: The althea is another good choice when you want to add a bit more white to your landscape.
Many white flowering plants also attract moths that are drawn to intense fragrance emitted after the sun has set. Every year I have a few volunteer flowering tobacco plants (Nicotiana sylvestris) which perfume the air each summer evening with their long, pendulous white flowers, attracting hawk and sphinx moths, flitting from bloom to bloom like nocturnal hummingbirds.
The other day while walking through the IDEA Garden in the Tyler Rose Garden, I was struck by the number of plants with white flowers and foliage. White not only looks good in the evening, but when designing gardens, white flowers and gray foliage helps tie together various elements in the garden, creating more of a uniform appearance and visual flow.
Here are a few of the showy plants in the IDEA Garden that can be used in a white theme garden or just for adding the cooling white flower or foliage color to your surroundings.
Angelonia is a relative newcomer in the annual flower palette, and breeders have made great strides in improving its garden performance. Angelonia "Serena White'' is represented in the white section of the Rainbow Border and also in the new "North Texas Winner's Circle" planting next to the IDEA Garden patio. This plant holds up extremely well in the summer heat and sun, covered with an abundance of small white flowers.
Petunia "Tidal Wave Silver'' is another North Texas Winner's Circle pick, and a Texas Superstar selection, with very good reason - it's one tough, eye-catching plant. This is not a wimpy petunia that wilts in the summer heat and humidity, but a sun-loving annual that vigorously spreads 3 to 4 feet wide, continually covered with very light lavender or silvery blooms that blend in with almost anything you grow it with.
Euphorbia "Diamond Frost,'' a recent introduction, is a favorite of everyone I know who has grown it. This compact, small plant seems delicate, but thrives in our hot Texas summers. Although it has tiny leaves, it is covered with hundreds of small, pure white bracts, creating airy mounds of white. This is a great plant for fillers, or the front of a flower border. You can find it in several places in the Garden, including the North Texas Winner's Circle section.
One plant sure to catch your attention is the Swamp or White Spider Lily (Hymenocallis). It looks like white fireworks shooting out of a large clump of thick, dark green, strap-like leaves. The individual flowers are bold and delicate at the same time.
Another dramatic flower that you can't miss is the Formosa or Philippine Lily. They're coming into bloom with a display of large, showy, fragrant, white pendulous flowers atop 4 to 6 foot tall stalks. After the flowers fade, the seed pods turn upwards, looking like candelabras, later scattering hundreds of seeds.
Silvery-gray low mounds of Artemisia "Silver Mound'' create a soft textured groundcover in the sunny, droughty bed next to the sidewalk in the Garden.
"Silver Mound'' can melt out in poorly drained soil or if it gets too much water, so give it full sun and good drainage.
Another favorite gray foliage plant is Artemisia "Powis Castle,'' a rounded bushy plant that looks good almost all year round. Unlike many other artemisias, "Powis Castle'' does not have an invasive underground habit, but makes a great filler in sunny areas.
Rose-of-Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) is an old fashioned, tall, deciduous shrub, with many different colored cultivars. The IDEA Garden has two white varieties: Diana is a pure white form that does not set seed, so it produces blooms non-stop all summer. The other is "White Chiffon,'' prominently located directly behind the IDEA Garden sign as you approach the Garden.
Some other white flowered plants currently blooming in the IDEA Garden include White Profusion zinnias, cat's whiskers, cleome, impatiens and a white plumbago (Plumbago auriculata).
Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas Cooperative Extension. His Web page is http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu Texas Cooperative Extension educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.
The other day while walking through the IDEA Garden in the Tyler Rose Garden, I was struck by the number of plants with white flowers and foliage. White not only looks good in the evening, but when designing gardens, white flowers and gray foliage helps tie together various elements in the garden, creating more of a uniform appearance and visual flow.
Here are a few of the showy plants in the IDEA Garden that can be used in a white theme garden or just for adding the cooling white flower or foliage color to your surroundings.
Angelonia is a relative newcomer in the annual flower palette, and breeders have made great strides in improving its garden performance. Angelonia "Serena White'' is represented in the white section of the Rainbow Border and also in the new "North Texas Winner's Circle" planting next to the IDEA Garden patio. This plant holds up extremely well in the summer heat and sun, covered with an abundance of small white flowers.
Petunia "Tidal Wave Silver'' is another North Texas Winner's Circle pick, and a Texas Superstar selection, with very good reason - it's one tough, eye-catching plant. This is not a wimpy petunia that wilts in the summer heat and humidity, but a sun-loving annual that vigorously spreads 3 to 4 feet wide, continually covered with very light lavender or silvery blooms that blend in with almost anything you grow it with.
Euphorbia "Diamond Frost,'' a recent introduction, is a favorite of everyone I know who has grown it. This compact, small plant seems delicate, but thrives in our hot Texas summers. Although it has tiny leaves, it is covered with hundreds of small, pure white bracts, creating airy mounds of white. This is a great plant for fillers, or the front of a flower border. You can find it in several places in the Garden, including the North Texas Winner's Circle section.
One plant sure to catch your attention is the Swamp or White Spider Lily (Hymenocallis). It looks like white fireworks shooting out of a large clump of thick, dark green, strap-like leaves. The individual flowers are bold and delicate at the same time.
Another dramatic flower that you can't miss is the Formosa or Philippine Lily. They're coming into bloom with a display of large, showy, fragrant, white pendulous flowers atop 4 to 6 foot tall stalks. After the flowers fade, the seed pods turn upwards, looking like candelabras, later scattering hundreds of seeds.
Silvery-gray low mounds of Artemisia "Silver Mound'' create a soft textured groundcover in the sunny, droughty bed next to the sidewalk in the Garden.
"Silver Mound'' can melt out in poorly drained soil or if it gets too much water, so give it full sun and good drainage.
Another favorite gray foliage plant is Artemisia "Powis Castle,'' a rounded bushy plant that looks good almost all year round. Unlike many other artemisias, "Powis Castle'' does not have an invasive underground habit, but makes a great filler in sunny areas.
Rose-of-Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) is an old fashioned, tall, deciduous shrub, with many different colored cultivars. The IDEA Garden has two white varieties: Diana is a pure white form that does not set seed, so it produces blooms non-stop all summer. The other is "White Chiffon,'' prominently located directly behind the IDEA Garden sign as you approach the Garden.
Some other white flowered plants currently blooming in the IDEA Garden include White Profusion zinnias, cat's whiskers, cleome, impatiens and a white plumbago (Plumbago auriculata).
Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas Cooperative Extension. His Web page is http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu Texas Cooperative Extension educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.
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