Clean, fresh and beautiful when paired with any other colour, white flowers are a favourite of gardeners, interior decorators and brides all over the world.
If you long for a white Christmas, save yourself the airfare and surround yourself with snow-white flowers and ivory petals that fall like snowflakes. Outside, there’s a white flower for every spot in the garden. Green and white is a classic combination that lends itself to a variety of different garden styles, from cottage-style gardens to hardy coastal landscapes that feature white flowers for softness and fragrance.
Gardenias are arguably the most popular white flowering plant, found in many New Zealand gardens, followed by frangipanis, hydrangeas, magnolias and star jasmine. Whether it’s the fragrance you love or simply the classic beauty and charm they bring to a garden, these white flowering plants are popular for a reason.
The most popular plants with white flowers to grow in your garden
1. Gardenias
Gardenias are perfect for areas exposed to the morning sun. Their soft, ivory flowers curl deliciously in the centre and look beautiful in vases or float bowls; their sweet scent filling the room.
Good varieties to look for include Gardenia ‘Florida’, which flowers non-stop through the warmer months, while ‘Magnifica’ is larger in flower and form.
Placate gardenias with rich soil, good food and regular water. Continually pick the blooms to keep the plant flowering and compact. Feed gardenias every three months and mulch with well-rotted manures to prevent leaves from yellowing.
2. Star jasmine
Enclose your garden in clusters of sweetly scented star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). This perfectly behaved climber with emerald-green foliage and delicate white blooms needs wire for support and will thrive in both sun and shade.
Train star jasmine to grow along wires on a wall or fence; trim them into brilliant topiaries or grow them as a ground cover. Lightly prune jasmine after flowering to keep it compact.
3. Frangipani
Shake a frangipani tree and watch the flowers fall from the boughs to create a pretty carpet. Their beauty is not limited to the great outdoors, you can also add the flowers to your bath or sprinkle them in float bowls.
Keep frangipanis healthy with a canopy check in early spring, removing any spongy or diseased branches. Trees grow to five metres and are great for garden shade. The common white frangipani grows well in containers, but resist watering in winter and gently feed during spring and summer.
4. Agapanthus
Plants with bold, strappy foliage create focal points in the garden. Groupings of white agapanthus offer giant starbursts of white blooms.
Plant them in areas of full sun and choose white-flowering cultivars such as ‘Snowgoose’, ‘Snowball’ and ‘Snowstorm’ for more abundant and longer-lasting flowers. Feed plants with a complete fertiliser in autumn and spring and always remove finished flower heads.
5. Philadelphus (Mock Orange)
The Philadelphus plant is a hardy, deciduous plant native to many temperate regions of the world, including south-eastern Europe, North and Central America, and even in the Himalayas. Its small, white to cream flowers are celebrated for their heady aroma that’s reminiscent to that of orange blossoms – giving way to its common name, the “mock orange”.
6. Wild Iris
Wild Iris (Dietes grandiflora) is easy to grow and flowers reliably in sun and shade. Enjoy its long, strappy green foliage all year round and pretty, iris-like flowers with soft blue centres at Christmas time. Remove entire flower stems after flowering.
7. Hibiscus
White Hibiscus ‘Swan Lake’ grows happily in full sun or dappled shade. When visitors arrive, pick the blooms and float them in outdoor water bowls or around the pool.
Hibiscus can grow quite large, which gives a wild tropical feel to your garden, but if you want to keep it contained, prune after frosts in winter.
Considering hibiscus only flower on new growth, pruning will keep the flowers at eye level. Feed plants every season with well-rotted manures and fertiliser. To prevent hibiscus beetle, spray plants with organic plant oils every four weeks during the warmer months and use Confidor, a broad-spectrum insecticide, during spring.
8. Waterlilies
On a deck or in a courtyard, a large vessel filled with white waterlilies is simply beautiful. Tropical white waterlilies flower at night and close in the heat of the day. Try ‘Wood’s White Knight’ variety for stunning aquatic flora. Their large lily pads cool the water and provide a perfect habitat for frogs and fish.
9. Cactus
Sun-loving ‘Queen of the Night’ cactus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) is the party girl of the plant world, bursting into flower in the dark of night and closing at dawn. In subtropical climates they love to grow on the trunks of trees where you can forget about them until Christmas, when their huge buds open at dusk to reveal enormous ivory blooms with a full fragrance.
10. Hydrangeas
Side passages and south-facing gardens tend to be cold, dark and drab. Inject life into these spots with white hydrangeas and white-flowering ground covers such as Liriope (Liriope muscari variegata), Lamium (Lamium maculatium) and Sutera (Sutera bacopa).
Hydrangea are brilliant for Christmas displays and their soft, full flowers add volume to any arrangement. Extend their vase life by cutting stems at a 45-degree angle underwater.
Preferring the southern areas of the house, hydrangeas must be kept moist and mulched with well-rotted manures.
If you prefer an evergreen shrub for shade, rather than a deciduous hydrangea, don’t forget Spider lilies (Crinum pedunculatum or Hymenocallis littoralis); their broad green leaves remain lush and green all year with a pretty display of fine white spidery flowers.
11. Flannel flower
These white ‘petals’ have a felted texture and are actually bracts surrounding the tiny true flowers clustered in the centre. Flannel flowers grow from seed or cutting and flower in spring and summer.
12. White chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums, particularly white varieties, are traditional bouquets. They light up gardens in autumn.
13. Foxglove
Foxgloves have tall spires of flowers 50cm to 100cm high. Usually mauvy pink there are also white forms that look striking in flower gardens. Foxgloves flower in spring and summer.
14. Magnolia
There are many different varieties of magnolia, each producing a different flower. Many magnolias have pink-coloured flowers but some produce pure white blooms that make a classic, sculptural statement in any garden. Little Gem is a popular magnolia variety that produces white fragrant flowers with rounded petals that are smaller than other magnolia flowers such as the Magnolia Grandiflora and Macrophylla.
Gardening with white
- In the garden, use white flowers to add a classic touch – white helps to lift the energy and draw the eye.
- Use white variegated leafed plants as visual starbursts, attracting the eye to areas of the garden you wish to highlight
- Use white flowers in the shade to brighten up dark spots
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- 10 best grasses for a New Zealand garden
- Gardening gifts for loved ones with a green thumb
- 12 gardening hacks on social media worth following
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