Moon gardens take advantage of flowers that bloom in late evening and through the night. They are a nice way to extend the time you can enjoy your landscape. Here are some tips to make a moon garden with native plants.
Choose A Spot
Pick a spot for your moon garden that gets moonlight. Just like sunlight, moonlight changes as the seasons change. It also changes by the time of night, so pick a spot that you can see moonlight from during the time of day you are likely to be viewing it. A dark corner of the garden that has the least light pollution is ideal.
Something To Sit On
Place a bench or comfy chair so you can sit comfortably while watching your moon garden. If you paint your seat with reflective white paint, you can find it more easily at night.
Reflective Surfaces
Choose things that will reflect the moonlight for your garden. Many people place a gazing ball, a metal sculpture, or metal pie tins in their garden to reflect the moonlight. Painting rocks placed along a path to the moon garden with white reflective paint makes it easier to walk to your seat without tripping over something.
Add Some Soothing Sounds
To engage more of your senses, add some soothing sounds. These can be windchimes, a wind driven whirligig, or a water feature that produces a soft sound as the water circulates. Water features double as a water source for night loving wildlife, such as owls and foxes.
White Or Pale Plants
Choose plants with white or pale foliage for your garden. Plants that are other colors but have shiny foliage look nice, too. A classic moon garden plant is the Hosta. It isn't native, but choosing a variety that is variegated or has lots of white on the leaves will add interest to the garden. Hostas need shade, so plant them under a tree or shrub.
Fleabane Daisy
Fleabane daisies have white, pink, yellow or blue petals with a yellow center on a stalk. The lance shaped leaves and stem are hairy. The flowers are attractive to pollinators and make great cut flowers for the house. Fleabane daisies are short-lived plants but seed so prolifically they will come back year after year. They are native to North America.
Solomon's Seal
Solomon's seal is a native shade loving perennial. The stalks grow up to six feet in height and are covered with green leaves variegated with yellowish white edges. Flowers hang off the bottom of the stalk and are a greenish white. The bell-shaped flowers attract a wide variety of pollinators including hummingbirds. The blue berries attract birds and mammals.
Add Fragrance
Add fragrance to the night air with night flowering plants. Nighttime pollinators such as sphinx moths and bats will be drawn to the flowers, adding motion and interest to the garden.
White Violets
White violets have delicate white flowers with purple veins. The leaves are green. This native groundcover grows to eight inches tall and prefers shade. The flowers have a delicate fragrance and are often planted by doors, so they perfume the air as visitors arrive at a home.
Evening Primrose
Evening primrose comes in yellow, white, and pink. They are native to North America and often grow in meadows and prairies. Evening primrose grows to 3-5 feet tall and about 3 feet wide. Each stalk grows a leaf that is lance shaped and green. It holds the flower bud inside. The flower blooms as the leaf uncurls. Each flower blooms at sunset and lasts until about noon the next morning. They have a delicate, lemony scent. Moths and bats are drawn to the flower at night and hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies come during the morning.
Seasonal Interest
Most moon gardens are principally of interest in summer. The air is cooler than during the day and it is pleasant to sit outside after being indoors all day. Adding deciduous shrubs and small trees with interesting branches can extend the seasons your moon garden is of interest. Picking shrubs and trees that have berries or other interesting features in the winter is a way to extend your garden's usefulness to wildlife.
White Dogwood
White dogwoods are small trees that grow about 25 feet high and 25 feet wide. The beautiful white blooms occur in early spring. Dogwood leaves are green and appear quilted. They turn red and yellow in the fall. Red berries form in the fall and stay on the tree until birds and mammals eat them. Deer eat the leaves and twigs.
Witch Hazel
Witch hazel is a small tree that grows up to 35 feet tall, although it is usually smaller. It has yellow flowers that bloom in the fall. The fruit is a seed capsule that birds and small mammals eat. The flowers usually bloom after the leaves have fallen, so they really stand out. Witch hazel can have flowers, fruit, and leaves on it at the same time.
American Holly
American holly is an evergreen tree that can grow up 25-60 feet tall. It is conical in shape with stiff, leathery leaves that have spines. The leaves are glossy and will reflect moonlight. The red berries stay on the tree over the winter and attract birds, small mammals, and deer. They berries help wildlife survive over the winter.
Let Your Eyes Adjust
When you are ready to enjoy your moon garden, turn off the outdoor lights and take a seat. It takes about ten minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. You should start to be able to pick out plants and see wildlife then. If you are lucky enough to live where there are still fireflies, they will start to wink in and out, too. Flowers and foliage will appear to be floating in the landscape.
Assistance Choosing Native Plants For Your Moon Garden
The staff at Garden Delights Nursery are experts at helping you pick native plants for your moon garden. Call 931.692.7325 to talk to someone and order night garden favorites.
