The Natural Garden

Pure and tinted whites

An unrelieved laundry-white invariably draws the eye and may attract undue attention. The annual Lavatera trimestris 'Mont 'Blanc', Rosa 'Frau Karl Druschki', white Japanese anemones and groups of white ox are all flowers of this perfect whiteness, but fortunately these flowers are seldom seen in isolation; they are almost always accompanied by leaves and other floral or foliage color, which tends to shadow and soften their extreme whiteness.

In fact, few white flowers are pure white. More often they are faintly tinged with lavender, cream, pale blue or green, or — when set among leaves of strong green — seem suffused with a pinkish tint. The whiteness of others is modified by their shape and texture. Whites such as those of Rosa 'Iceberg' and tulip flowers have a solid, three-dimensional mass with glowing white petals moulded by highlights and shadows. Other whites such as poppies and romneya produce papery almost see-through fragile petals around central stamens, while Clematis recta, gypsokhila and crambes bear small starry flowers held on branched stems togive misty cloud-like diffused color effects. I much prefer to use the tinted whites: the more glaring laundry- whites are dazzling and seldom restful.

To counteract their potentially eye-catching properties, white flowers are best matched with pastel tints and grey, and silver-leaved foliage, gentle color values that blend with the whiteness to make gradations of—tones, rather than being juxtaposed with dark or bright foliage which emphasizes the strong contrast. For more contrived schemes, the arresting quality of blocks of white flowers may be deliberately exploited to make architectural points, most effectively as repeats along the edge or centre of a border scheme.

White flowers become luminous at dusk and even glow through the night, and so are perfect for beds that may be viewed only at the end of the day. With white- variegated foliage, they will lighten a shady corner.

Neighboring colors retain their truest appearance when placed beside white flowers, and are optically deepened and enriched, so whites can be used to separate colors that might otherwise clash. Tinted whites do this more gently. The 'white' of the white flowers becomes tinted with the complementary color of its neighbor. Cream flowers seem perfect companions for all garden flowers. They set off blues, soften harsher yellows, oranges and reds, and are -cool and restful.