White in the Fall Garden

Plant These to Add some Glow to Your Landscape

Two part-shade loving, deer-resistant natives - White woodland aster (Eurybia divaricata) and ostrich fern at Chanticleer. They make a wonderful pairing. Sprawling and abundant small white flowers bloom in mid summer into fall. Likes some morning sun.

White in late summer and fall gardens glows in the evening. This is the part of the day when we have time to appreciate the sparkle it adds. A luminous “evening garden” filled with white flowers and silvery foliage plants, white furniture, perhaps a white fence and white pots, will brighten up the darkness of an autumn twilight.

A white fence is a classic way to enclose a garden. Feng shui calls white the color of purity and ancient Yogi tradition considers white one of the supreme colors.

White not only lights up the garden but also attracts night pollinators. These creatures are hampered by light pollution so white flowers in a landscape that is not overly bright are such an asset in a pollinator garden.

The thought of a white garden can be seen as a balm to soothe the spirit and matches the quietness brought on by the short days of fall. Vita Sackville West, the erudite English garden writer, said it best,

"White flowers are anathema to all but the oldest and most sophisticated of gardeners."

This is a sly way to say that only the most refined of gardeners prefer white. And Vita would know—she created the best known white garden in the world at her estate in England called Sissinghurst.