Usually when people talk about creating beautiful gardens they talk about bright flowers, shimmering sunlight and colorful visitors such as hummingbirds or butterflies. But there’s another type of garden you can create that takes advantage of evening hours in just the same way – a Moon Garden.
A moon garden is simply a garden that is meant to be enjoyed during evening hours, a garden of serenity and softly glowing colors, relaxing and almost luminescent in quality. Moon gardens by nature feature white or light-colored plants, sweet-scented night-blooming flowers, and accessories such as water features or décor that invite shy night-time visitors such as giant hawkmoths or frogs.
Plants with light-colored blooms are perfect for moon gardens as they reflect moonlight and stand out in the darkness. Even though most plants flower during the day and close at night, there are a wide variety of lovely, sweet-scented flowers that work perfectly here in the Visalia area for people who want to enjoy their gardens in the evenings.
Choose a place to plant your moon garden in an area where you will be able to view it at night. For homes this is often near patios or decks or near balconies or bedroom windows. If you live in an apartment or don’t have an area to create a moon garden, you can do the same with planters for your balconies, decks or other outside sitting areas.
If you own a business that is open during evening hours and offers outdoor seating, moon garden planters can provide a beautiful and relaxing experience that customers will definitely enjoy.
For moon garden planters, use any of the plants we’ve listed below using the “Thriller, Filler and Spiller” technique and you can’t go wrong. (Click on the link for planting tips.)
You can find the following moon garden plants and flowers at Luis’ Nursery that provide the perfect colors, scents and scenery for a relaxing night-time retreat.
- Night-blooming jasmine
- White and purple petunias
- Nicotiana
- Moonflowers
- Artemesias
- Blue fescue
- Mock Orange
- Hostas
- Cleome
- Dusty Miller
- White Coneflower
- Lambs Ear
- Brugmansias
- White Yarrow
- Verbena Bonariensis
- Alyssum
- White Four-o-clocks
- Butterfly Bush
- Chocolate Flower
- Evening Primrose
- Variegated Foliage Plants
- White roses
- Yellow or white daylilies
- White superbells
- Shasta daisies
Once you’ve planted your moon garden flowers, you can add some extra décor to enhance the experience. Soft lighting that doesn’t compete with the moon’s glow will help flowers to shine at night. Some ideas include small twinkle or fairy lights or softly-glowing solar lighting lining paths or placed strategically near flowering plants. Gazing balls are a fun garden décor idea that will also add some shine and reflection to your moon garden. And a great finishing touch for any moon garden is to add fun extras such as tinkling wind chimes, water fountains or bird baths. Water features can serve a double purpose of adding soothing sounds as well as attracting evening pollinators such as moths, bats, or native bees.
If you’re excited to start a moon garden, we invite you to visit Luis’ Nursery and ask one of our landscape professionals for tips to create a magical evening experience everyone will enjoy.
