Nature abhors a monoculture, but not necessarily a monochrome culture. Against a leafy green backdrop, a single color stands out dramatically—particularly when that hue is white. Here are 15 of our favorite white-on-white plant palettes for a garden bed:
![The white garden at Aatt Sissinghurst Castle, where Vita Sackville-West created her breathtaking gardens in Kent, England. Photograph by Clare Coulson for Gardenista, from Sleeping at Sissinghurst: An Overnight Stay at England\2\17;s Most Famous Garden.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/sissinghurst-castle-priests-house-clare-coulson-733x550.jpg)
![Garden designer Sheila Jack\2\17;s own garden in London features a white and green palette. Photograph by Britt Willoughby Dyer for Gardenista, from Designer Visit: Sheila Jack\2\17;s White Garden in West London.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/sheila-jack-garden-10-733x489.jpg)
![See Sheila\2\17;s front garden with \2\16;Iceberg\2\17; roses and a variegated holly in Landscaping: 9 Ideas for Curb Appeal in a City Garden. Photograph by Britt Willoughby Dyer for Gardenista.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/sheila-jack-front-garden-5-733x488.jpg)
![This white and green garden by Sawyer | Berson includes hostas with variegated leaves, clipped boxwood shrubs, ivies, ferns, clematis vines, and annuals to add seasonal color. Photograph courtesy of Sawyer | Berson, from Landscape Architect Visit: “Sex and the City” Meets Edith Wharton in Manhattan.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/fields/white-garden-new-york-city-sawyer-berson-4-gardenista-733x549.jpg)
![Our own Michelle Slatalla transformed her garden on a tiny budget thanks to white roses. Photograph by Mimi Giboin for Gardenista, from Landscape on a Budget: The \$\250 Instant Rose Garden.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/michelle-slatalla-rose-garden-patio-mimi-giboin-733x1100.jpg)
![Photograph by Sara Barrett for Gardenista. Nicotiana and echinacea mix well in a border at White Flower Farm. See more of this garden in Spring Ahead: \10 Tips to Get Your Garden Ready.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/white-flower-farm-white-garden-gardenista-2-e1455581120873.jpg)
![Photograph courtesy of Scott Lewis Landscape Architecture. Around the perimeter of a San Francisco artist’s studio, landscape architect Scott Lewis covered a metal trellis with English ivy and planted white dwarf deutzia (Deutzia gracilus ‘Nikko’) at the base. “It’s typically an old-fashioned plant, a deciduous shrub that blooms in late spring and early summer,” says Lewis. For more of this garden, see Landscape Architect Visit: A Green and White Oasis in San Francisco.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/white_deutzia_nikko_gardenista.jpg)
![Photograph by Kendra Wilson. Irises and foxgloves are planted against a velvety green backdrop of boxwood topiaries at the Chelsea Flower Show. To get a similar look, says Kendra, \2\20;try also foxtail lily (eremurus), white hollyhock, Nicotiana sylvestris, and Madonna lily (the latter two for scent).\2\2\1;](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/white-garden-topiarist-chelsea-733x489-2.jpg)
![Photograph by Jim Powell. Kendra visits Lady Cholmeley\2\17;s modern white garden and discovers a maze: \2\20;Cerastium tomentosum (\2\16;Snow-in-summer\2\17;) makes a swirl with dwarf box.\2\2\1; For more, see Garden Visit: Lady Cholmeley\2\17;s Modern White Landscape in Lincolnshire.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/easton-white-2-jp-2280-brighter.jpg)
![A bleeding heart vine pokes out between two walls–and unites them visually–in Charleston, South Carolina during A Walk in the Neighborhood in Charleston. Photograph by Olivia Rae James for Gardenista.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/bleeding-heart-vine-curb-appeal-gardenista-733x1100.jpg)
![Justine visited Garden in the Woods near Boston, where she found a wetlands where \2\20;a snowy spray of Bishop’s Cap (Mitella diphylla) stands tall among the ferns and skunk cabbages.\2\2\1; For more, see Walk on the Wild Side: A New England Woodlands Garden.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Garden-in-the-Woods-wetlands-white-by-Justine-Hand-for-Gardenista-e1460844426254.jpg)
![Photograph by Kendra Wilson. Spilling from a planter are a white petunia, the small euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’, and Muehlenbeckia axillaris. See more in \10 White Garden Ideas from Petersham Nurseries.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/white_garden-_petunia_euphorbia_gardenista.jpg)
![Photograph by Marie Viljoen. In a Cape Town garden against a backdrop of rejuvenating green, \2\20;pale petunias, Cape fuchsia, and lilies come alive as dusk falls,\2\2\1; says Marie. For more of this garden, see Garden Visit: Julie\2\17;s Soothing Green-and-White Palette in Cape Town.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Cape-Town-garden-nightscent-lilies-gardenista-733x489.jpg)
![Photograph by Kendra Wilson. White campion and nettles look unstudied and natural in a Chelsea Flower Show garden. For more of this garden, see Gold Medals Awarded at the Chelsea Flower Show.](https://media.gardenista.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/white-campion-nettles-gardenista.jpg)
For more monochromatic(ish) gardens, see:
- 11 Ideas to Steal for a Moonlight Garden
- Now Trending: 9 Surprising Purple Palettes for a Garden
- Pretty in Pink: An Artist’s Dry Garden in LA’s Topanga Canyon
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