I’ve adored sharing the Lake District of Italy with you, but as the first of July reminds us, summer is here! And Newport always offers more than worthy material, so we’re shifting gears and focusing on my beloved “City by the Sea.”
What better place to start than in the garden at Parterre. On a languid stroll yesterday, I captured the Green and White garden at its early summer finest, reminding me that this theme was the first garden idea when we started on the landscape and design of the new home we were building. It’s truly a classic and tradition-bound favorite fascinating garden lovers for years (think Sissinghurst and Vita Sackville-West in the mid-1900s).

If asked what my one driving design precept was when this journey began, I would say the plant list with a sharp focus on shades of green and varied leaf shapes and textures. Remember, once the white flowers have “gone by” the green scene will need to carry its own.

Just in this cozy corner of the garden we have (right to left) an unusual fern ‘Victoria Lady fern,’ a small-leafed Golden Feverfew with its dainty daisies, and Heuchera ‘Green Spice’ with dusty red veins, all backed up by a bank of white astilbe.

And it helps considerably when you have a statement tree that centers your attention and reinforces the white theme…Cornus ‘Summer Fun’ (that replaces a stalwart old fave, Beautyberry.)

What do I love about this garden?
The variety of hostas that always carry their weight, and more…

The froth of white astible that bursts out at this time of the summer, with chartreuse carpets of Creeping Jenny breaking the lines of the beds’ iron edging…

The details…nestling an antique white marble urn amongst the dramatic and large hosta, Sum and Substance, just next to the old cobblestones that provide convenient walking paths through the garden…

The wit of a pruned boxwood in the shape of a brioche (for our French home, Parterre). Last year I decided to add touches and shades of rose madder (named for the oil paint); here the Lysimachia ‘Beaujolais’ catches your eye as you step down from the Fountain Garden.

In closing, I can’t fail to share one of my key vignettes on our property, at the end of the Green and White Garden. Simplicity is the key here…three matching white stone urns on plinths within a froth of chartreuse Lady’s Mantle spilling onto the raked pebble paths. Conveniently (and by design), the wooly thyme that joins the Lady’s Mantle repeats the celadon green Thalictrum in the urns.

Happy Fourth of July to you and our wonderful country!!!