This year plan ahead for your outside parties and add in some easy drama to your yard. A white garden is simply different white flowers that are grouped together. While it sounds uneventful, it will catch the attention of all your guests once a little moonlight hits it.

You see, the beauty of a solid white section in your garden is that once night falls it almost appears to glow. It’s simply that white reflects the moonlight more than darker colors, but you don’t have to tell any of your guests that.

If you have a small patch of garden to spare try planting a few of these (in white varieties, of course):

• alyssum
• baby’s breath
• bachelor button
• petunia
• yarrow
• zinnia
• inpatients

If you don’t have space in your yard (or a yard at all) buy a container and plant a mixture of the above list for your patio or balcony. My very favorite white flower is a vine called moon flower. You can easily start it from seed. Just make sure you have a trellis or tee pee shaped bunch of bamboo for it to climb up. They get about 15 feet tall, but you can have a shorter trellis and wind the tendrils to get it where you want it as it grows.

It will take a few weeks for it to get going, but once it does you’ll have beautiful blooms every evening, all summer long. Moon flowers are about 4 – 6 inches big and last only for one evening. Keep an eye out because a flower can open in a matter of minutes if the weather is just right.

The vine gets covered with buds, so you will get a few each evening once it starts blooming. It’s a relative of the morning glory, which only opens in the morning. It is an annual so it only lasts one season. But it is easy to harvest its seeds in the fall. Just let the vine dry out and bring in any seed pods you find on it inside. You’ll have a few handfuls to plant next year.

Tags: bachelor button, backyard entertaining, balcony, beautiful blooms, moon flowers, moonlight, patio entertaining, seed pods, seeds, tendrils, trellis, white flower, white flowers, yarrow, zinnia

Posted by Myriam under All About the Home & Garden & Summer Entertaining | 3 Comments »