As much as we’d love to spend every moment enjoying the back yard or relaxing on the patio or balcony, our busy lifestyles don’t seem to allow it. Responsibilities during the week keep us occupied, and there never seems to be enough “free weekends” in a month – if there are any free ones at all. Unwinding in the evening fresh air after a long workday or busy weekend may not seem like an option. But it’s actually when the sun goes down that a special type of garden is given new light: the moon garden.
The fine texture of the silvery leaves make Senecio cineraria an ideal moon garden plant.
Photo Credit: Lane Greer
The flowers of night-blooming jasmine are pretty, but the heavenly scent makes the biggest impact.
Photo Credit: Grandiflora
Moon flowers are attractive night bloomers – for people, as well as beautiful nectar-feeding moths.
Photo Credit: Felder Rushing
Oenothera biennis opens its blooms between 8:45 and 9 p.m. EDT every evening.
Photo Credit: Gerald L. Klingaman
Moon gardens are designed with certain key elements in mind – elements that are enhanced as the day comes to a close and evening arrives. Plants that provide the most evening enjoyment include those with white or silvery flowers or foliage, fragrant blooms or an evening bloom time. A combination of plants with these characteristics guarantees an atmosphere ideal for relaxing at the end of a hectic day.
One essential element of the moon garden is the color white. White flowers, variegated leaves or silvery foliage reflect the light of the moon, creating a soft, luminous glow. Common annuals with showy white flowers include impatiens, begonias, verbena and dianthus. And dusty miller, Artemisia and lamb’s ear are a few plants that provide silver foliage and an interesting texture to the garden.
Even vegetables – like white eggplant, white squash and white pumpkins – can add substantial color to the moon garden, while herbs with white or cream-colored variegation can add culinary purpose, as well as fragrance.
And fragrance, indeed, is another important characteristic of the moon garden. Some plants bloom through the day only to release their scent as night falls. Night blooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum), for example, has somewhat insignificant flowers compared with its heavenly scent. Four o’clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) begin opening their 2-inch, trumpet-shaped flowers in the late afternoon, releasing a sweet perfume into the evening hours.
While nature’s aromatherapy brings pleasure to the human nose, its primary function is to lure pollinators. Night-blooming flowers do just that, attracting moths and bats to the evening garden. Bats are also attracted to the moon garden to feed on insects, including pesky mosquitoes. With an appetite of up to 600 mosquitoes per hour, the bat may well-become a welcome garden guest in some areas – and they’re great for fighting garden pests naturally.
Just as daylilies and morning glories bloom in the morning, some plants bloom at night. The moonflower (Ipomoea alba) is a cousin of morning glory (I. purpurea). It bears large, white flowers – up to 6 inches across – on a fast-growing vine.
Some evening bloomers are quite showy and have even resulted in garden parties just to highlight the event. Evening primrose (Oenothera) is one such flower that reliably blooms nightly between 8:45 and 9 EDT. From the first crack in the bud, it’s only a matter of 20-30 seconds before the four bright yellow petals have fully uncurled. By the next night, the flowers from the previous night will have withered and can easily be picked off for a fresh display…and an accurate count. (Keeping a seasonal count can be fun for the young and young-at-heart.) As the season progresses, the plant grows and the buds become more bountiful.
After a crazed workday or a weekend filled with picking the vegetable garden, weeding the flower garden and deadheading the perennial garden, take the time to just sit back and enjoy all your efforts by the peaceful light of the moon.
