The Garden Guy has had the best time following the Pantone "Color of the Year," which is Cloud Dancer. By following, I am talking about the color gurus verbalizing on social media. I’ll not call any out by name lest they come after me.

Cloud Dancer as you might expect is white. Now I admit while I will always hope for Electric Orange, I know the chances are slim to nonexistent. Plus, I would keel over if they did. The complainers wanted their favorite color, no doubt, and used as their principal argument: "White is the absence of color." But that argument fails because when you look up in the blue sky, you don’t see puffy absences of color; hence the name Cloud Dancer is most appropriate.

As a national garden writer, my job is to bring Cloud Dancer to the garden. The Green Industry wants to play Pantone too! With that in mind I look no further than the 1850 Illiges Woodruff house, a most magnificent historic home, a safe distance just off the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia. Today, it is coupled with the even larger JP Illges Woodruff house with landscape touching plus the wonderful new conservatory form the Illges Woodruff Estate. Together they are recognized as premier wedding venues especially if you consider opportunities to have the bride's family in one home and the groom's family in the other. Can you see where I am headed? What is the mandatory color for weddings? White!

The Illges Woodruff House is the epitome of Greek Revival. It is tall and white with incredible columns. The blooming shrubs and flowers are obviously white. Cloud Dancer has been associated with cumulus clouds by several gurus of color. No plant depicts cumulus any better than hydrangeas.

The growing season is long, and hydrangea blossoms start off in April with the various oak leaf types (Hydrangea quercifolia). These blooms are large and show off their native adaptability. They typically offer up burgundy and bronze foliage in the fall.

These are overlapped by the smooth hydrangeas (Hydrangea arborescens), which are also native. The display of blooms borders on the spectacular. The bloom time is long and the effectiveness time in the landscape is much overlooked, probably thanks to the popularity of the panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata).

These keep the continuous hydrangea overlapping going in the garden. They are native to China, Korea, Japan and Russia and certainly competitive in the beauty category. They are also the tallest, making a picturesque presence in the long sweeping gardens seen at the Illges Woodruff House.

The white theme is always in play. The huge planters on the front porch are always full of season color like pansies and Snow Princess sweet alyssum in the winter and Supertunia Mini Vista White petunias in the summer. In beds adjoining the hydrangeas, you will find various ferns, Heart to Heart caladiums and Surefire White begonias.

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(Norman Winter, horticulturist, garden speaker and author of “Tough-as-Nails Flowers for the South” and “Captivating Combinations: Color and Style in the Garden.” Follow him on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy.)

(NOTE TO EDITORS: Norman Winter receives complimentary plants to review from the companies he covers.)

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