Nothing lights up shadowy recesses like pure-white flowers. Fortunately, there are enough choices to make every garden shine all season -- even at night.

Whether or not they go for witchcraft and wizardry, smart gardeners use white magic to cast irresistible spells: bouncing sunshine into shadows, snaring moonbeams, cooling down heat waves, coaxing tense psyches to chill out.

This mojo is second nature to plants with blooms and variegated leaves in the most luminous of colors, white, but it doesn't take a botanical sorcerer to master its power. As prisms reveal, every ray of white light contains a rainbow. Bulbs, annuals, perennials, shrubs, and flowering trees all present a vast spectrum of pale tones -- cream to ecru, snow to silver, gentle to dazzling -- that mingle with ease.



White blossoms and foliage reflect and intensify their neighbors' hues. Many white flowers have touches of other shades, such as wine, saffron, and lime green, in their throats and on their petals. Some blush pink or take on a golden glow as they age, complementing flora that have more saturated tints. And because white is literally a highlight, it helps to focus a garden's organizing structure.



The four groupings of cut specimens illustrated here only hint at the profusion of combos available from garden centers and nursery catalogs. A single variety or a mixed sampling can sparkle in a container, awaken a sleepy flower bed, or dapple a dim lawn. A multiseasonal assortment ensures a succession of great moments from spring to fall -- proof that monochromatic need not mean monotonous.