White Flowers: Sophisticated and Serene

I love spring. I love bulbs. I love watching my plants. Every day, usually multiple times per day, I go out to my garden and just stare. It's very zen. Observing even the tiniest bits of progress by each plant in their march towards emergance, new growth and blooms. It's always confused my neighbors. "What are you looking at?", they've always said as I stare at what is often bare soil. "My prized possessions...my babies", I say.

Many people in Texas would say that it's just not worth planting tulips because they don't perennialize here. Psshaw, I say. They are glorious and worth every penny to re-plant each fall. I always select several colors that I want either to bloom together or in sequence. For this spring's display, I chose 'Passionale', a mid-season blooming purple triumph tulip to bloom first, along with 'Lightning Sun', a blazing orange mid-season blooming Darwin Hybrid. Purple was the first color to emerge in my garden, then along came orange. Purple and orange tulips together make a stunning combination. Paired with them were mid-season blooming white and orange 'Professor Einstein' daffodils.

Now that the purple tulips are fading and the orange will soon be finished, my later-season blooms are coming into play in white. White flowers create such a clean, sophisticated and fresh feel in the garden. A palette cleanser if you will between the vibrant bulb colors of early spring and the wild mix of roses and spring blooming perennials soon to come. Tulip 'Maureen', a white single late variety, candytuft (Iberis) a tough perennial, and my favorite late-blooming daffodil 'Thalia'. Assorted silver foliage plants, such as artemisia and lamb's ear make the perfect frame for the crisp white flowers.

Ah....white in the garden. It's like a breath of fresh air, wouldn't you say?