The Moonlight Garden

Flowers take on different shades, shrubs assume new shapes, and in the silver, wispy shadows gardens become another world...

Oenothera macrocarpa
Item # 72150 		Oenothera macrocarpa
Missouri Evening Primrose

each $7.99
3 to 6 plants $7.79
7 or more $7.59
Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam'
Item # 22632 		Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam'
Curlicue Sage

each $5.99
3 to 6 plants $5.79
7 or more $5.59
Cerastium tomentosum
Item # 32570 		Cerastium tomentosum
Snow-in-Summer

each $5.49
3 to 6 plants $5.29
7 or more $4.99
  • Topic: Evening Gardens
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: moonlight, moonlight garden, night, night garden, Garden Design, gardens
  • Date: August 2005

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We spend so much time in our gardens during the day that we tend to forget them at night. But during the next full moon, see what happens in your bedding areas and along pathways. Flowers take on different shades, shrubs assume new shapes, and in the silver, wispy shadows gardens become another world.

With some deliberate planning you can have a stunning moon garden that, well, outshines anything during the day.

Designing

If you’re not starting from scratch, remake part of your garden by culling the plants that aren’t all that stunning during the day and don’t add much interest at night. Then start small by adding a few plants; see how they look in the different phases of the moon.

  • Select a special moon garden section
  • Distribute moonlight plants throughout the garden

Color

When designing for the night, work with an eye toward plants that show up during the white light of the moon such as whites, yellows, pinks and pale purples. Variegated leaves and silver foliage work well too.

Following is a list of flowers for the moon garden:

White flowers

Callirhoe alcaeoides ‘Logan Calhoun’ (Logan Calhoun white Flowered Poppy Mallow) Zinnia acerosa (White Flowered Bush Zinnia) Achillea serbica (Serbian Yarrow) Zephyranthes candida (White Rain Lily) Penstemon tubaeflorus (White Plains Beardtongue) Tanacetum nivetum (White Bouquet Tansy) Phlox paniculata ‘David’ (Tall White Garden Phlox) [fragrant]

Yellow flowers

Oenothera macrocarpa ‘Comanche Campfire’ (Silverleaf Evening Primrose) Oenothera macrocarpa (Missouri Evening Primrose) Stomatium mustilinum [a highly fragrant night blooming rock garden plant]

Pink flowers

Oenothera speciosus ‘Rosea’ (Showy Pink Evening Primrose) Penstemon palmeri (Pink Wild Snapdragon) Fallugia paradoxa (Apache Plume)

Pale purple

Aquilegia caerulea (Rocky Mountain Columbine) [has white petals] Lysimachia clethroides (Gooseneck Loosestrife)

Variegated leaves

Marrubium rotundifolium (Silver Edged Horehound) Aegopodium podagraria ‘Variegatum’ (Variegated Bishop’s Weed) Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’ (White Nancy False Nettle) Pulmonaria longflora ‘Roy Davidson’ (Roy Davidson Lungwort) [speckled leaves]

Silver foliage

Artemisia versicolor ‘Seafoam’ (Curlicue Sage) Cerastium tomentosum (Snow-in-Summer) [fragrant white flowers]

Other Ideas

  • The evening garden can also incorporate light colored walls, pathways, gates and trellises.
  • Use tiny clear Christmas lights in trees.
  • Place white statues among the plants.
  • Set silver sculptures in focal points.

So while you’re spending all day working in the garden, why not put some of that effort into creating a garden you can relax in at night?