The second in a series of four blogs about white gardens for every season. To read our first blog on Summer white gardens please click here.

Think autumn colours and what usually come to mind are the ochres, auburns, oranges, browns, golds, rusts, vibrant reds and mustard yellows of fallen leaves, end-of-season gardens and harvest-festival floral displays.

Autumn can spring a surprise in a show-stopping garden, however, if you opt for dazzling whites instead.

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns," novelist George Eliot wrote about her favourite season.

Cooler weather and a fresh start as we return to school/work after the summer holidays can be the perfect excuse for the change of tone that autumn whites bring to a garden.

Mount Fuji Phlox

Actaea simplex

Snow Queen Hydrangea

In fact, The Trend Collection autumn/winter 2021 (as highlighted by the Flower Council marketing board) features “flowers, houseplants and garden plants that fit with trends in interiors, lifestyle and fashion in terms of product characteristics and look” with one of the selected blooms being the white tuberose (Polianthes tuberose). It is described as a “Mexican beauty which releases sultry and sweet fragrance notes at night” and “reminds of nature's grandeur.”

Interflora has also recommended whites for a chic and classic autumn wedding, pairing lilies and roses with grey-green foliage for a “timeless yet of-the-moment” look.

A striking concept for an eye-catching garden

So white in autumn has fashionable cachet, and can be a striking concept for an eye-catching garden. At Alaster Anderson we believe in creating gardens that can be viewed as works of art in their own right and adding a touch of stunning white can help achieve this.

We’ve listed some of our favourite white perennials, grasses, ground cover, shrubs and climbers below.

To highlight just a few, Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ (Japanese anemone) is

superb perennial for bringing much-needed brightness after summer has gone. It has hordes of cup-shaped, sophisticated white flowers on tall stems, with dark green vine-like leaves providing a dramatic backdrop.

These anemones are popular in Japanese gardens, often grown in shade or against dark rocks to make a flamboyant statement. They also work well to light up dark corners. Dahlia 'Siberia' is another impressive pick, growing up to 100cm tall.

A surprising shrub is Choisya x dewitteana ‘White Dazzler’ (Mexican orange blossom), because rather than a traditional autumnal orange bloom, it bursts with free-flowering, sweetly scented white flowers. With first flowers appearing in Spring, it has a second flush in late Summer / Early Autumn. Again with dark green leaves for contrast, this specimen forms a neat, compact mound useful for giving sculptural shape to a garden design.

We’ve also suggested a climber, Rosa ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’ (David Austen & Sarah Raven). Again highly scented, this superior rose climbs to about 7m for a vertical focal point that is covered in large, cupped, double-opening flowers emerging as pale pink then mature to creamy white.