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 ention white gardens and what do you think of? Sissinghurst, of course, which is famed the world over for Vita Sackville-West's incomparable celebration of one colour. Simple and seemingly effortless, this corner of a Kent garden has inspired many gardeners to emulate the idea - and also caused many of them to fall by the wayside.
Novice gardeners think this will be an easy way to cultivate a guaranteed classy garden. Until, that is, they find out how badly wrong it can go and they are faced with a washed out, boring mishmash of plants. Experienced gardeners are all too aware of the pitfalls but, at some point, many will not be able to resist giving themselves the challenge of making a white garden,
viewing it as a culmination of their knowledge.
The main piece of esoteric advice that any experienced garden designer can proffer, is that after all the drooling over a delicious white flower, consider not how does your white garden grow, but rather, how does it die? Think of white lilac and how the brown soggy panicles cling on to the branches in ever increasing numbers, or how the rose 'Little White Pet' has one perfect bloom in the midst of a cluster of corpses. So unless dead heading features in your daily routine, check out their death habits.
It's also worth confirming whether it starts pristine, as many plants have coloured buds. Geranium macrorrhizum 'Album' sounds white but has inflated red calyces. Lavatera thuringiaca 'Ice Cool' is a perfect white flower with snowy buds and the good grace to drop off the stem immediately its time has come.
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