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A Most Romantic Father's Day In The Garden
June 14, 2003
By Marjorie Harris
After a long, disouragingly cold spring what could be more romantic than a Father's Day dinner in the garden? Imagine a warm dulcet evening, your beloved sitting under the mosquito netting, candles alight inside, and the whole world of nature lit up outside this grotto.
A garden for the night bespeaks blooms of purest white. White plants radiate light. White is everything and yet nothing. Colourist Nori Pope explains that white bends invisible ultraviolet and infrared light into the visible spectrum. The eye is drawn to it and we are particularly sensitive to white. There are some night-flying moths that want nothing else to sip from. Silver and gray plants will also reflect light from millions of tiny hairs so they look even better in candlelight.
To make your evening garden luminous you need little other than a few of the garden candle holders or lamps found at most nurseries to give a sheik of the desert look to the back yard. White blossoms and any plant with silver or gold foliage will serve to suffuse the garden with the right atmosphere. As the light slowly diminishes into darkness, these plants will pop in the most extraordinary way.
Light reflecting details help as well: a swathe of pale yellow gravel settled by containers spilling over with Iberis (candytuft), Nicotiana sylvestris (the 5-foot high scented nicotine plant not a pointless hybrid) or white bacopa. Artemisia 'Valerie Finnis' threaded through the dark drama of burgundy, mahogany and near black foliage punctuates their bruised quality and when they fade at dusk old 'Valerie Finnis' gleams on.
Either Datura (Jimsonweed) or a Brugmansia arborea seems appropriate. The blooms of one hanging down, the other upward-facing-both incredibly poisonous-but who cares when that intoxicating scent wafts over the scene. Another fragrance should come from a small swath of the annual Mirabilis jalapa (Four O'clocks) which open up in the late afternoon to emit a delicate spicey aroma. Perversely they will also open out on gloomy days as well. The multi-coloured blooms will contrast gorgeously with the white surround.
The Oriental hybrid lily called 'Casablanca' which has such a pervasive scent we always need to leave the deck and sniff at a more intimate range. However, it has long pollen-covered stamens and will leave a streak of yellow on any nose that comes too close, not terribly romantic for the unwary. There is another form called 'White Horse' which is an even more incandescent white. Paired with an annual called Cleome 'Helen Campbell' their splendor will support just about anything planted around them. To do the same vertical justice on a more permanent level, try Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root) which is a native plant with long spiky white blooms attractive to beneficial bugs that disappear with the night.
A moonlit romantic garden must not have dying blossoms anywhere, so it will need to be deadheaded to get the right effect-nothing sullied. Purity and perfection must be everywhere here in the moonlight and so is a really good glass of wine.
Copyright Marjorie Harris, 2005
CONTACT MARJORIE HARRIS
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