There’s not that much you can do now to change the way your summer garden looks but, and this is the great thing about gardens, there is always next year to look forward to. The best thing you can do is go and have fun in other peoples’ gardens and shamelessly steal good ideas and smugly reject the less successful ones.
Take the White Garden for instance – the big idea here is to only include plants in shades of white. The whites glow in the evening as dusk falls and so are often referred to as moon gardens. It’s a lovely idea but it’s not easy to get right. Here are three examples:
Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent is considered by many to have the big daddy of white gardens. In fact, many people attribute the idea itself to Vita Sackville-West, and this garden has certainly inspired others from around the world. In my opinion if you only see one white garden ever, it should be this one.
The famous central rose arbour is just breathtaking at full bloom – worth a trip to Kent. There are many ways to express this simple idea of a white palette. At Hidcote Manor the planting is used as a foil for topiary and appears much more formal.
It is interesting to note how different the space looks earlier in the season.
Losely Park – famous for its delicious ice-cream – has a series of garden rooms around the manor house including a white garden. Here the central feature is a formal pool.
As you can see the result is not a carbon copy of either of the other White Gardens.
Each interpretation of the same theme is unique. What will yours be?
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