White flowers are essential in the garden where they punctuate flowerbeds and beds with delicate and graceful notes. They illuminate shady corners and mingle splendidly with blue, red or yellow flowers, dark green or variegated foliage. The white flowers magnify the plants around them, harmonize with all tones and bring a touch of romance to the garden. Here are 10 ideas for plants and shrubs you absolutely must have for their white blooms.
1 – Panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata)
This small, easy-going shrub is distinguished by its abundant flowering from July to September. Its large flowers in panicles are first ivory white then turn pink in September. The effect is spectacular.
2 – The white rose
Who can resist the white rose, from the family of Rosaceae, of which there are many varieties and cultivars. Standard rose, bush rose, climbing rose, creeper rose… Each category is available in many colours, but the immaculate white rose, whether small or large, fragrant or not, finds its place in any garden.
3 – L’Agapanthe blanche (Agapanthus precox, syn. African)
Of indisputable beauty, this plant of the family of Agapanthaceae offers us throughout the summer its many spectacular umbels composed of multiple white flowers, which emerge from the tuft of very elegant ribbon-like leaves. It is grown in large pots as well as in the ground, why not alongside a blue Agapanthus…
4 – La Rose trémière (Alcea rosea ‘Halo Blossum’)
The gardener who cannot resist the crazy charm of hollyhocks can find in their rich palette of colors a variety with white flowers whose heart is a pretty deep pink, as is the case with ‘Hello Blassum‘. Its flowering, of great beauty, is guaranteed from July until the end of August or mid-September.
5 – Sweet carnation (Dianthus plumarius)
If you want to bring a note of white to a border, a flower bed or even in a rock garden, the cute carnation is ideal. We love its little country air, its delicious fragrance, its beautiful bluish-green foliage. It is very easy, with a few plants of sweet carnations, to create a veritable carpet of multiple white flowers from June until frost, because certain recent cultivars bloom longer than the old varieties. Note that there is another white carnation that blooms from June to August, themarigold (Dianthus arenarius). Its foliage is glaucous green and its virginal flowers, with extremely cut petals, are as original as they are exquisite.
6 – Clematis (Clematis)
In the great family of Ranunculaceae, there are more than three hundred species of clematis. Lovers of climbing plants with white flowers have something to enjoy with White Pearl repeat flowering, Full Albino which blooms from April to June or Nelly Moserwithout forgetting the hybrid Beautiful Bride spectacular with its large white flowers that bloom from May to September.
7 – The Lily (or lily) (Lily)
Intoxicating and splendid, the lily with white flowers like White lily is royal in massif, and allows to compose sculptural bouquets. There are of course other varieties. You just have to be careful because lily pollen can cause extremely stubborn yellow-orange stains on clothes and tablecloths!
8 – The Gardenia (Gardenia)
Also called Cape Jasmine, Gardenia belongs to the family of Rubiaceae. It flowers from May until September. Among the best known worldwide, Gardenia jasminoide produces white flowers in abundance but one can also turn to Gardenia thunbergia or Gardenia brighamii. Gardenia flowers are deliciously fragrant.
9 – The freesia (Freesia x hybrida)
One can only succumb to the beauty of the white flowers of the Freesia, arranged in clusters, and which bloom from July until October, but it is better to install this highly decorative little plant in a pot because it is very sensitive to the slightest frost. In this way, the beauty can be sheltered as soon as necessary.
10 – Japanese Dogwood (Cornus kousa)
This small tree of the family of Cornaceae is spectacularly beautiful in spring as it is covered in flowers with white bracts that seem to have settled on the foliage like delicate butterflies. The tree is just as sumptuous in summer because of the beauty of its decorative foliage. The spectacle continues in autumn, when its leaves ignite the garden with their fiery colors. And to top it off, the Cornus offers us in autumn a profusion of deep red fruits in the shape of strawberries, edible, fleshy and with an exotic flavor.
These are just a few ideas for plants and shrubs with white flowers that have all the qualities for structure a garden and embellish it. Cosmos, Cléome, Anthémis, Thlaspi, Arum but also Perce-neige or Seringat are other plants to grow in the garden to take advantage of their beautiful white flowers at different times of the year.