White Houseplant Scheme

Cool, light, airy, sophisticated, spacious are just some of the adjectives used to describe white interiors. White is also a wonderful background for green and flowering plants. White flowers, in their turn, serve to highlight the colours of surrounding plants and décor.

An all white room can look stunning but does not seem very practical to most of us. However, a similar effect can be created in small areas of a room or for special occasions and celebrations — such as weddings and anniversaries.

For a wedding or buffet table arranged with a white cloth and plain white tableware, a line of identical white-painted baskets could be interlaced with ribbon and used as containers for groups of white flowering plants.

White Highlights Detail

Surroundings of white will show off the detail in shape and pattern of plant leaves as well as flower colour.

White Reflects Light

White painted walls will considerably increase the light level in a shady part of a room, allowing you to grow plants where it might otherwise be difficult.

Outdoors a tiny background or basement can be improved considerably if the surrounding walls are painted white and the area is filled with boxes, tubs and hanging baskets of flowering plants.

White on the Patio

For an eye-catching effect, create an all-white garden with pots grouped on the patio. Mix plants with white flowers together with those with silver and grey leaves. Grow white Clematis,

Convolvulus and Roses up the walls. Include white-flowering lilies in larger tubs with a white Hydrangea or spring-flowering Orange. For scent, include flowering Tobacco in white and climbing Common White Jasmine.

Choose variegated leaf plants such as Giant Periwinkle, and silver-leaved plants like Silver Leaf and lavenders: Lavandula lanta is the type to choose for the whitest foliage.

Container Ideas

Simple white ceramic plant pots show off a white-flowering or variegated leaf plant better than anything else. Group plants in pots matching in shape but not necessarily in size and highlight the arrangement with just one white flowering plant.

Old baskets can easily be painted or sprayed white. Fill with Primulas or Cyclamen for a table centre.

White tableware — casseroles, salad bowls and jugs can all act as decorative temporary plant pots.

Alternatively, contrast vibrant flowering plants with white containers to add a splash of colour in a white corner of a room. Try planting a bunch of lavender-blue Irises in a pure white container displayed by a white wall. Their dramatic shape and stunning colour will be shown to great advantage and will highlight the white décor.

A Touch of White

• Range green plants along a windowsill or fireplace displayed in white jugs and perhaps intersperse with a collection of smaller jugs.
• Use white shelves to show off white-flowering and variegated-leaf plants in various white-painted pots.
• A white china bowl can be used to show off a group of white cyclamen on a wide windowsill.
• A pot of white Autumn Crocuses, positioned as a centrepiece on the dining room table, will remind you of spring as the days draw in.

Some White Plants to Try

White-flowering plants

• Chrysanthemums have dense, creamy-white flowers as well as flowers in many other colours.
• White Sails is a very decorative flowering plant that produces arum-like flowers that turn pale green with age.
• Italian Bellflower is a trailing plant with a mass of tiny, white, star-shaped flowers.
• White Primula with their green centres are perfect massed or mixed with other coloured Primulas.
• Arum Lily has wonderful creamy-white, waxy flowers in early summer.
• Busy Lizzie, which flowers all summer, is available with white flowers.
• Cape Primrose has a white-flowering variety that looks very effective mixed with other Cape Primroses in pink and blue.
• White Cyclamen provide winter flowers in both standard and miniature sizes.
• Gardenia is an exotic, highly scented summer flowering plant. Winter flowering varieties are also available.
• Chinese Jasmine is a wonderful scented climber with white, star-shaped flowers.

White-edged or streaked-leaf plants

• English Ivy can have white leaf edges and will trail attractively over the edge of a pot.
• Ground Ivy Variegata is a hardy plant and has its scalloped leaves splashed with white.
• Synogonium in its variegated form has very decorative white marbling on its large, arrow-shaped leaves.