Best white perennials:
I would guess that the Cedar Hedge by our back door is 50 years old. Maybe more. The Cedars are much taller than the house, and their trunks are 8 or 10 inches in diameter. The lower limbs of the Cedars are beginning to show their age, thinning out, and looking tired.
A few years ago I planted 3 or 4 Candytuft (Iberis Sempervirens) at the base of the Cedars with hopes they might add a pop of brightness to the dreary base of the hedgerow. The Candytuft fit the bill perfectly. Their early spring pure white blooms pack a delightful punch when the annual flowers have not yet been planted.
White is my favorite color in the garden. Like the white in a closet, white goes with anything and is the ultimate neutralizer. Plant something blue next to something green, and the results are questionable, but separate the two colors with a splash of white, and the colors will look amazing.
At sundown, when we are most likely to be relaxing in the garden, the reds and blues tend to recede, but the white leaps forward with cheer. In the shady garden, white is especially effective.
The white of Candytuft is pure, crispy clean, making a delightful low-lying groundcover. Candytuft grows to only 4 or 5 inches high, spreading a foot or more. Plant them 18 inches apart and in two or three years they will form a lovely border.
Sweet Woodruff (Galium Odoratum) is similar to Candytuft, but a little faster growing. It is a true groundcover that prefers shade over sun. Sweet Woodruff has tiny flowers that are less showy than Candytuft. Its fine textured lush green foliage is highly attractive with or without flowers.
Lamium, sometimes called Dead Nettle, is shade loving perennial with light green foliage edged in white. Lamium grows only a few inches high, and produces a bonus flower in white, yellow, or pink, depending on the variety.
For a low growing sun loving groundcover, consider False Rock Cress (Aubrieta) available in pink, purple and white. Aubrieta grows most comfortably in a rock garden where it can wrap its foliage between boulders or cascade over a stone garden wall.
Rock Cress is an informally used name given to several low growing plants, mostly in white. The most common Rock Cress is Arabis, a soft textured plant with smooth white flowers that attract bees. The foliage is grey green. Arabis will take root and thrive in tiny crevices between rocks and sidewalk cracks.
Bellflower ‘White Clips’, part of the big Campanula family, produces cup shaped pure white blooms above a dark green mound of foliage. The delicate looking plant grows to 8 inches high, with slightly greater spread. Preferring a spot in sun, Bellflowers are sure to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. The counterpart to White Clips is Campanula ‘Blue Clips’.
In next week’s Garden Clippings, we will look at my favorite white annual plants.
