It is very difficult to capture all of the elements of a scene that the eye can see, the camera only captures what’s in view with hard edges. Which is too bad because there is much to see. But the best I can do is capture pieces of my terrace, including a bird’s eye view from my second-floor balcony to capture the layout of my urban garden. But these still life scenes do not always capture the green, green neatly clipped yew hedges, nor the robust and beautiful hostas that border the entire garden. And there are no images of the day lilies or the welcoming pot of summer grass by the entrance which mimics the foliage of the day lilies. These are all visual elements that the eye can see, just standing in the middle of the terrace.
Then there is the lighting. There’s should be certain subtlety to an all-white garden. But the green to white contrast only reveals itself again when you look at parts, not the whole. The interplay between white blooms and every shade of green creates a tapestry shift with the moving light. Perhaps that is the real secret: the garden’s beauty isn’t just in the flowers themselves, but in the way the sunlight filters through the leaves, catching petals here and there, making them almost glow against all the lushness. The light and shade are dramatic. It makes certain segments white hot, while others remain vibrant but much darker.
All in all, it is after all a white garden. Earlier in the spring I also had a magnificent display of white blooms from my Japanese Lilac trees that I planted on my small terrace, one in each corner and two along one neighboring side. These trees give the much-sought privacy when you live in the middle of a very busy city not to mention the beautiful white lacy blooms which appear every spring.
This year it’s all white. The imaptiens have not reached the one foot height promised yet and I did add some trailing vines and white bacopa to fill in gaps. I can see improvements already for next year, but in the meantime, my terrace provided a lovely private back drop for a recent dinner with friends. Now that the weather is warm, we usually start in the garden. It is perfect for entertaining.
