White flowers against green: the picture of serenity.
I used to dream of having a garden bed in just those colours.
Never happened.
But between June and July, you’ll find several patches in our garden.
Green and white Hosta in several places…
Hollyhocks….
Daisies ….
A flock of Goatsbeard….
White Hosta blooms (above) and Solomon’s seal below….
Queen Anne’s Lace (above) — a weed to my husband, a flower to me…
And Hydrangea everywhere….
Now, to get them all together in one place at one time and I’d have … well, not exactly Sissinghurst … but for me, the perfect white and green garden!
I hope you are enjoying your summer.
Cynthia Reyes 
White flowers are great in the garden. They allow you to enjoy the garden at night too. Yours are looking so good.
Thanks! I’m sure you could tell that the last few photos were taken in the very late evening. My husband asked incredulously today: “Who takes photos in a garden at night?”
Gorgeous garden! I’ve always dreamed of having a beautiful garden like this…so far all I can manage (just barely) is keeping my lawn cut. The hydrangeas are stunning!
Keeping your lawn cut is a good thing, and it takes a lot of work. You might try planting an Annabelle hydrangea, though. It’s almost indestructible, I’ve discovered, and the blooms are lovely.
Oh, I do adore white flowers! Please can you send your garden over here to replace the mess we have?!!
I have to bow to the men who now take care of the garden. Primarily my husband, then his occasional helpers. Our garden was such a mess for years, as I couldn’t garden without horrendous pain, then my husband decided he had to do it. A good man indeed!
Oh so lovely, my fave is the Queen Anne’s lace..I press the flowers and use them as snowflakes on Christmas cards. have a lovely weekend! xo Johanna
Teach me how to do that, please!
How do you ‘press’ the flowers?
And do they keep their colour?
Beautiful pictures! Beautiful garden! I love Annabelle hydrangea. Ours blooms so profusely during the summer.
they do, don’t they? with all the rain this spring and summer, the mopheads are simply huge.
You have a beautiful garden Cynthia, with a nice variety of plants, size, age and color. 🙂
Thank you, Brad.
I’m a little jealous, but I haven’t put much time or energy in my garden lately. 🙂
Just stunning. I’ve never seen host lilies bloom quite so beautifully. It’s like a fountain.
It is so fresh and elegant and they can get quite tall too.
Our last house I had a flower bed with just white things in it. I loved it. This house has white here and there, like a nice surprise waiting to be found. Thank you for sharing your beautiful whites.
You did! Such planning and discipline. For years I had that plan, but it never came to pass!
You know, I love the surprise of coming on those beautiful whites against greens walking around a corner or as we pass a beautiful garden in our travels. They come in so many different forms, at so many different times through the spring and summer. I wish you enjoyment of your calm patches – perhaps they are set off by the colours of the other plants around them?
Mostly by their strong green foliage, but yes, absolutely, Margaret.
I’m very fond of white flowers in shade, you have some gorgeous ones, especially the Goatsbeard and those Hosta flowers!
Thank you. I love ’em.
You have some beautiful white flowers. Your Hydrangeas are magnificent. We went to Sissinghurst on Wednesday and as it was quite late in the afternoon we had the white garden almost to ourselves and were able to sit at the table in the little arbour soaking up the atmosphere. Wonderful! So many imitators, but no one has achieved quite what Vita did .
You’re fortunate to be able to visit Sissinghurst. One of my old dreams…
Vita really was a remarkable gardener. I always think of her when I think of white gardens. There’s a grand estate east of Toronto called Parkwood, and they also had/have a beautiful white garden. Always calms me.
Pure loveliness, Cynthia. The first picture is heavenly. I always enjoy how white flowers capture and reflect the last bits of light in the evening. They are the stars of the garden.
Blessings ~ Wendy
Thank you, Wendy! So well said.
Beauteousness!
Thank you, Cindy!
I once gardened for a Russian lady who grew only white flowers. Everything, even her cats and her car, was white. The strange thing was, her house was gray. I guess she didn’t want to over do it.
That’s funny, Allen, especially your last line!
So it is, a beautiful white and green garden, Cynthia! You do take pride in your lovely garden…. 🙂
I take pride in my husband’s great work, Iris! We planted the garden two months before we moved here and I had the accident two weeks before we moved here, so it’s my husband and his occasional helpers who deserve the praise.
It is a very lovely garden, Cynthia, and a great work done by all. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
You are welcome, Iris.
Lovely, lovely white flowers. I have one bed running along the side of the garden that is all yellow and white, but nature thinks this is a big joke and all the strongest coloured plants self-seed and pop up there.
I couldn’t help laughing at nature having her way with your garden bed.Thanks for the laugh, Hilary. Great comment.
Very beautiful Cynthia, I love them all, especially the plantaginea hosta flowers. The plantaginea hosta is the only hosta with fragrant flowers! Enjoy your weekend 🙂
Thank you, Michael. those flowers really are so elegant and lovely. do you have many hosta?
HI Cynthia, I do, I have around 600 hostas. From 1993 to 2010 I use to hybridize hostas, and at my peak I had over 1400 plants, not counting my seedlings and tissue culture plants. During the spring and summer month I had tours of my garden every weekend. I was a member of the American Hosta Society during those years and very active with the AHS and out local hosta society. Love growing hostas but I am not involved like I once was. Here is a link that you might like if you grow hostas; http://www.hostalibrary.org/
Hi Michael:
600 hostas? SIX HUNDRED? My goodness, Michael. That’s a lotta hosta. But as I read further, I see that hostas were a passion of yours, and that means you must know a lot about the different kinds. Thanks very much for the link. One thing I’m curious about: is it my imagination, or are white blooming hosta relatively rare?
I love white flowers and ideally the summer should be warm with light winds and gentle showers to show them off. They look so sad when battered by wind and heavy rain. I have been waiting for my white gardenia to bloom – it is late this year because we had such a cold spring and cool start to the summer. The buds were very large yesterday so I knew the first flowers would appear today. And so they did – but sadly we have had a day of continuous heavy rain and it is to be very windy overnight too! We desperately needed the rain; but my poor gardenia! 😦
Oh no. You couldn’t cover it, somehow? (…she asks, and then realizes: what a silly question!)
No not a silly question. It is in a container and I could have moved it and covered it but didn’t. Fortunately it is quite close to the house and was protected from the worst of the weather. The flowers that decided to open aren’t too badly damaged. We have some sunshine this afternoon but the winds are still strong and the heavy rain is set to return tonight. We had a month’s rain in 24 hours yesterday and the ponds are full again. Strange weather indeed.
How rude of me! I meant to say how much I loved the photos of your white flowers – especially the hostas and goatsbeard – but I forgot. Sorry!
I knew that! You are never rude.
Thank-you! 🙂
Serene, Cynthia, serene.
Thank you.
Wonderful photos .. There is something special about white flowers. I like Queen Anne’s Lace too ..
Me too, me too! Thank you, Julie.
White hollyhocks?! I’ve never seen those! I love my hollyhocks but now I covet yours . . .
We had them in all colours, but after a while, I ended up with just white hollyhocks.
Well done. White flowers are so hard to photograph
I took some at dusk and late evening, and maybe that helped, Derrick. Not sure. I’m no artist. (smile)
Nice and pure white garden, full of peace(i suppose…)
Merci beaucoup, Christiane. Oui, tres tranquille….
Gorgeous white flower specimens Cynthia – your gardens are amazing! Happy summer to you ~
Ahh, we have some goatsbeard in our local park and I’ve often wondered what it is, the flowers are so striking, so thanks for that Cynthia!
I love White gardens! Yours is beautiful:-) I tried creating a “moon garden” but always some color sneaks into mine-LOL
LOVELY garden Cynthia!
Thank you!
Exquisite!
Thank you!
I figured out what changed with WordPress and am able to comment again, now that I know how to work around it.
Your white garden is beautiful. My mother always loved white flowers, too. Her favorite was her white peony.
Lavinia! It’s wonderful to have you back. Thank you for being here again! And I shall soon be looking for your August newsletter — always so soulfully-written. You must be a singer-songwriter (big smile).
Thank you! August is coming all too soon…so much not done here I meant to accomplish this season.
I love that goatsbeard. It’s funny I never thought about just white and green for a garden as my mind always puts color into gardens. I think a white and green garden would be crisp, clean and beautiful!
I think so too. I must try it one day. Even one garden bed.
Cynthia, thank you so much for the lovely pictures! 🙂
You are most welcome, Maxine.
This is beautiful, Cynthia. You rarely see pictures of only white flowers – looks like heaven! 😀
Absolutely gorgeous, Cynthia. And of course you had my two favorites, white daisy and Queen Anne’s Lace. 🙂 ❤
Oh, Cynthia, they are all so gorgeous. I remember Queen Anne’s Lace in my Mom’s garden when I was little. Love it! Your garden is just heavenly! 🙂
Such a beautiful selection of white flora. They’re fabulous, Cynthia.
Thank you, Jean.
This collection of white plants is stunning. 🙂
Thank you, Judy!