Garden Mastery Tips
|
May 2004 |
Moon Gardens
If you work during the day and the best time to enjoy your garden is at night, consider planting a moon garden. A moon garden is simply a collection of plants that can be enjoyed during the late evening and night hours, especially when the moon is shining. Moon gardens can include flowers that wait until the late afternoon or evening to open and flowers that are more fragrant at night to attract night flying pollinators. Plants with white, cream, yellow, or pale pink flowers, and plants with silvery or gray foliage appear to glow under moonlight. Plant your moon garden in an area where you like to linger after sundown-perhaps near a deck, patio, or water feature. By combining textures, heights, and bloom time, your moon garden will be a dramatic addition to your landscape, day or night. A moon garden is a terrific way to extend the amount of time you can enjoy your garden.
Plants for a moon garden
Plants with gray or silvery foliage
Silver King Artemesia (Artemesia ludoviciana albula)
Dusty miller (Centaurea cineraria or Senecio cineraria)
Lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina)
Lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus)
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum)
 Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden |
 Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden |
Plants that open late in the day (all are fragrant)
Angel's trumpet (Brugmansia candida)
Evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa, O. caespitosa, O. hookeri, O. missourensis)
Flowering tobacco (Nicotiana alata or N. sylvestris)
Four o'clocks (Mirabilis jalapa), 'Alba' has white flowers
Moonflower (Ipoemoea alba)
Night-scented stock (Matthiola longipetala, formerly M. bicornis)
 Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden |
 Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden |
 Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden |
Additional plants that are fragrant, especially at night
Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)
Clematis
Gardenia jasminoides
Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
Night jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum)
Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)
Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)
Sweet mock orange (Philadelphus coronarius)
Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa)
Winter jasmine (Jasminum polyanthemum)
Wisteria
A sampling of perennials with white flowers
Azalea
Calla lily
Delphinium
Dianthus
Foxglove
Iris
Peony
Rose
Shasta daisy
References
All photos are courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden
“Enchanted evenings: design a garden with plants that glow come nightfall.” Country Living Gardener. August 2003.
“Fragrant Evening Garden.” The Seasoned Gardener: Episode SGN-406. Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_design_other/article/0,,HGTV_3566_1399113,00.html
“Moon Garden Plants.” Garden Gate. Issue 15. Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/tips/15tip5.html.
“Seeds for a moon garden.” Victory Seeds. Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://www.victoryseeds.com/catalog/flowers/moon_garden.html.
Cohoon, Sharon. “Romancing the whites.” Sunset. July 1998.
Gilmer, Maureen. “Moonlight Gardens.” Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://www.gardenforum.com/moonlight.html.
Hofer, Marie. “Moon Garden.” HGTV Ideas magazine. Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_plants_other/article/0,,HGTV_3609_1390819,00.html.
Kemper Center for Home Gardening. PlantFinder. Accessed March 11, 2004. Available at http://ridgwaydb.mobot.org/kemperweb/plantfinder/.
Lorton, Steven R. “Gardens made for moonlight.” Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://www.sunset.com/sunset/Premium/Garden/1997/05-May/Moonlight0597.html.
Mason, Sandra. “Design a Moon Garden.” University of Illinois Extension. Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/champaign/homeowners/040124.html.
Myers, Linda. “Moon Garden.” Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/county/smith/tips/flowers/moongdn.html.
Additional Resources
Hall, Doug. “Twilight in the Garden.” Better Homes & Gardens. August 1999.
Loewer, Peter. The Evening Garden: Flowers and fragrance from dusk till dawn. Macmillan Publishing Company. New York, NY. 1993.
Ogden, Scott. The Moonlit Garden. Taylor Publishing. 1998.
Savonen, Carol. “Night-Plant a night-blooming garden.” Oregon State University Extension & Experiment Station Communications. Retrieved March 11, 2004 from: http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/garden/flower/nightbloom.html.
Shaffer, Marcella. Planning & Planting a Moon Garden. Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, A-234. Storey Books. 2000.
Speck, Francoise. “Moonstruck: Some gardens come awake at night, when their pale flowers reflect the glow of the moon and fill the air with their heady perfume.” Sarasota Herald Tribune. August 3, 1996.
Our pages provide links to external sites for the convenience of users. WSU Extension does not manage these external sites, nor does Extension review, control, or take responsibility for the content of these sites. These external sites do not implicitly or explicitly represent official positions and policies of WSU Extension.