20 Ways to Work White Magic into Your Lawn
Just like a perfect white coat or a string of pearls, white gardens exude a classic charm. They are classically elegant and never appear to go out of style. If you’re trying to liven up your house or try something new this year, it’s not hard to add a bit of white with flowers, fences and other elements for some oh-so-sweet cabin style, to create a relaxing backyard escape or dress up your front yard.
Wallace Landscape Associates
1. Welcome with whitened. This beautiful entry is balanced with a white flowering dogwood (Cornus kousa, zones 5 to 8) and framed by a split-rail fence. The look is formal but not stuffy, and the fence matches the scale and style of their clapboard buildings.
Denise Dering Design
2. Install a fence for curb appeal. A low fence like this is both playful and appropriate. Filled with roses and fronted with mounding perennials, it creates a welcome entry from the street or sidewalk. The fence can be strung with greens and lights in the winter season.
D’Urso Landscape Design
3. Display a driveway with white pickets. This curved picket fence mitigates unwanted views of cars that may be parked in the driveway, providing the yard a cohesive look. A mix of sun-loving plants softens the hardscape and its exterior.
Milieu Design
4. Top fence panels with lattice. Let’s face it, white fencing can be hard on the eye, therefore soften it with lattice panels like these. Notice the sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora, zones 5 to 9), a fantastic white flowering vine, on the brick pergola.
Frederick + Frederick Architects
5. Mark an entry. Arbors make excellent focal points. As an alternative to traditional wood, which needs regular maintenance, look for structures created out of a white composite material, like Azek, for simple care and durability. Experiment with blossom roses and string white lighting for nighttime garden wayfinding.
Deborah Cerbone Associates, Inc..
6. Build a white pergola. There is nothing like a well-built pergola to offer shade and respite outside. If your house is white, consider a fitting pergola — a bonus room from which to relish the view. Flank it with silver and white plants, framed in a classic boxwood parterre for classical elegance.
Derviss Design
7. Frame a garden room. White rising roses onto an arched metal arbor form a romantic entry to a yard enclosure at this San Francisco home. Light-colored fabrics catch the eye and keep loungers cool in the heat while a backdrop of older cedars helps to make the blooming roses stick out.
8. Make chairs a focus. This set of white sling-back canvas chairs pops out of the dappled shade within this cabin garden in Portland, Oregon, where chic meets hip beneath the green foliage of hostas, azaleas and white variegated brunnera (Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’, zones 3 to 8).
Aiken House & Gardens
9. String a hammock. Got a great deal of colour in your flower borders? White goes with everything, and a traditional rope hammock is a practical means to enjoy the scenery. Additionally, it is easy to take down and store at the close of the season.
Austin Ganim Landscape Design
10. Mix white with water. Classical urns with white chaise longues balance well with the creamy blossoms of smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, zones 3 to 9) within this Connecticut poolside garden.
Paintbox Garden
11. Install a white bench. I really like the elegance and simplicity of this beautiful bench placed beneath mature trees. It’s a work of art, with ornamental appeal, but provides comfort and relaxation.
Barbara Cannizzaro
12. Create a little space feel larger. Short on space? Make it feel somewhat less cramped by employing white, as revealed in this rooftop garden. The crisp fabric of the chair cushion allows for a constant scene change with bold colored cushions, cut flowers and ornamental accents.
Margie Grace – Grace Design Associates
13. Go for classic style. White roses are a girl’s best friend (or is that diamonds?)) . Whatever your taste, a lush urn overflowing with blossoms can make the heart swell. And did I mention the scent?
Westover Landscape Design, Inc..
14. Grace a doorway with climbers. White clematis proves with style. Give it support and shade its origins with smaller plants around the bottom of the container, like variegated sedge (Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’) or trendy chartreuse coleus.
Paintbox Garden
15. Mount a white birdhouse at a flower border. A whimsical birdhouse makes a fantastic companion to snowy lilies, garden phlox (Phlox paniculata ‘David’) and smooth hydrangeas within this coastal Maine garden.
Verdance Landscape Design
16. Anchor tall plantings. In this San Francisco garden, white tulips lend a pristine formality into a brick-edged, curved rock walkway. Punctuated with columnar evergreens, the look is bright and understated, and can be readily switched once the flowers fade.
Westover Landscape Design, Inc..
17. Fill a room with shrubs. Utilize panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’, zones 3 to 8) with frothy Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macro ‘Aureola’) to display a fence and create a complete border with a great deal of visual attention.
Genus Loci Ecological Landscapes Inc..
18. Build a border. When designing white, keep in mind that trees deliver big impact, as shown in this Toronto garden, that has a line of white birch put against a construction as a thoughtful display with harmonious repetition.
19. Design for seasonal impact. In Vancouver, Washington, a stately grid of white flowering trees lends timeless appeal to a formal garden parterre centered around one blue focus. The look is fresh and pure, crisp and deliberately controlled — sophistication redefined.
Paintbox Garden
20. Use plants. White variegated brunnera (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’) is one of the best perennials for Growing shade, and its blue flowers are a joy.
Plant guides: Find white flowers for your own climate
More: What To Do in Your Garden Now
