Nighttime is a magical and mysterious time! The sun has set and the air cools, and the world just seems just a bit quieter. Many night-blooming plants wait until the cooler twilight hours when a whole new world awakens once the sun disappears and the moon shines. What a fantastic time to spend in the garden!
Creating a Moon Garden offers a serene and enchanting outdoor space that comes alive under the soft glow of the moon!
By carefully selecting plants with white or pale blooms and silvery foliage, you can design a garden that not only looks captivating at night but also provides delightful fragrances and textures.
Here are some great ideas to start a nighttime garden of your own!
- Moonlight Sonata: Designing Your Moon Garden!
- Best Trees, Shrubs and Perennials For Moon Gardens
- New Moon Garden Plants
- Add Glow in the Dark Plants!
- Moon Garden Final Touches
Moonlight Sonata: Designing Your Moon Garden!
Why just enjoy your garden during the day? Plant a Moon Garden or Night-Flowering Garden allows you to take time out during the evenings and twilight hours to unwind and meditate. Listen to the crickets chirp or watch fireflies blinking in and out of view.
To craft a moon garden that truly shines after dusk, consider the following elements:
- Color Palette: Choose white or light-colored flowers and plants with silver or variegated foliage to reflect moonlight! Creating a luminous effect!
- Fragrance: Incorporate night-blooming or highly fragrant plants to enhance the sensory experience during evening hours.
- Lighting: While the moon provides natural illumination, strategically placed soft lighting can highlight key features and extend the enjoyment of your garden into the night. Pathway lights, up-lighting trees, and fairy lights add to the beauty of the evening.
Best Trees, Shrubs and Perennials For Moon Gardens
Choosing the right plants is crucial for a successful moon garden. Here are some recommendations:
White or Pale Blooms: /strong> Plants like White Lilies, Moonflowers, and Flowering Tobacco are usually seen in Moon gardens. Choose plants that open or emit fragrance during the evening!
- White Azaleas
- White Roses
- Annabelle Hydrangea - or other white-flowered Hydrangeas
- Virginia Sweetspire like Little Henry®
- Festival Star Baby's Breath
- Phlox - Both Tall Garden and Creeping
- Buttonbush
- Evening Primrose
Silver Foliage: Plants such as Artemesia, Lamb's Ear, and Dusty Miller have silvery leaves that catch and reflect moonlight beautifully.
- Iceberg Alley Sageleaf Willow
- Silver Mound Artemesia
- Lamb's Ears
- Brunnera
- Ghost Lamium
A Blue Moon is a second Full Moon in the same month
Blue Foliage:
The epitome of twilight, blue foliage stands out at nightfall.
- Fescue like Elijah Blue and Beyond Blue
- The Blues Little Bluestem
- Blue Star Juniper
- Papoose Sitka Spruce
- Slenderina® Weeping Blue Spruce
- Blue Hostas
Fragrant Varieties: Plants that offer sweet scents often become more pronounced in the evening, adding another layer of allure to your garden!
- White Oleander
- Scentsation Honeysuckle Vine
- Gardenia
- Jasmine Vines
- Sweet Autumn Clematis
Moon Plants:
Be literal with plants named after the moon itself!
- Moonrock Hydrangea
- Moonbeam Coreopsis
- Mad About Mangave® Moonglow Mangave
- August Moon Hosta
- Moonshine Yarrow
- Moonglow® Sweet Bay Magnolia
- Magical Moonlight Buttonbush
- Moonglow Juniper
- Luna™ White Hardy Hibiscus
A Black Moon is a second New Moon during the same month
New Moon Garden Plants
While Moon Gardens traditionally focuses on light blooms and silvery foliage, incorporating plants with dark foliage adds stunning contrast! Including plants with dark foliage not only adds contrast to the lighter greens, variegation, and white flowers, making the luminous whites and pale colors stand out even more. The interplay of light and dark creates depth and drama, elevating the overall beauty of your garden.
But by including only dark foliage and flowering plants, you'll create a unique New Moon Garden! Scatter lights everywhere and bring out the beauty of the dark night!
Best Dark Foliage Plants For Moon Gardens
- Black Mondo Grass
- Dark-Leaf Dahlias
- Heuchera (Coral Bells)
- Black Lace Elderberry
- Colocasia (Black Elephant Ear)
- Burgundy Lace Japanese Painted Fern
- Queen of Sheba Bugbane
Using Dark Foliage in Your Moon Garden
- Layering: Place dark foliage plants in the background to create depth and allow lighter-colored blooms to pop in the foreground.
- Container Gardens: Use dark-leafed plants as 'fillers' or 'spillers' in pots and pair them with silver-leaved or white-flowering companions for a striking visual effect.
- Focal Points: Large-scale plants with dark foliage stand out both day and night!
Add Glow in the Dark Plants!
A recent innovation that can add a magical touch to your moon garden is the Firefly™ Petunia! This bioluminescent flower emits a gentle glow at night, thanks to the incorporation of DNA from bioluminescent mushrooms.
During the day, it appears as a typical white Petunia, but as darkness falls, the leaves, stems and flowers all radiate a soft, enchanting light, enhancing the nocturnal beauty of your garden!
Moon Garden Final Touches
Don't forget the final touches that make for a great garden and outdoor room! Select garden Lighting and Lamps, glow-in-the-dark stones, white rocks or path lights. A comfy seating area, a Hammock to relax in, a water feature or firepit, and a gazing ball to reflect the moonlight.
Include citronella candles or Mosquito repelling plants to repel these pests that are unfortunately also active during the evening hours. A nice seating area with some mosquito netting creates a picturesque and safe place to hang out during the night.
By thoughtfully selecting plants and providing proper care, your moon garden will become a tranquil retreat that offers beauty and serenity under the night sky.
Extend your garden time with plants that embody the evening and twilight, while also making it easy for you to care for. Plus they look just as great during the daytime too! Get gardening - day or night - with plants expertly grown at Nature Hills today!
Happy Planting!
