Gardens Made For Moonlight
Creating a garden to be seen by the light of the moon might sound like an endeavor for insomniacs. But if you stroll through such a garden on a night when the moon shines bright, you'll understand its magical attraction.
Although moonlight played an important role in the gardens of ancient China and Japan, the idea of designing a garden to reflect moonlight didn't emerge in the United States until 1833, when the Poore family of Newburyport, Massachusetts, developed "a garden for 'brave moonshine', a garden of twilight opening and midnight bloom, a garden of nocturnal blossoms, a garden of white blossoms..."
The basic concept is simple: plant enough white flowers together to form a reflective surface for moonlight. The trick is to choose plants that complement one another and produce flowers throughout a long period. Plants with silver foliage also make handsome moonlight mirrors, and they mix well with white-flowered plants.
A moon garden can be any size and shape: a long border works well, but you might prefer a square, a crescent, or a lunar circle. You can even capture moonshine in a large terra-cotta pot.
You'll enjoy a moon garden most when you can linger and watch the subtle spectacle unfold; a cloud passing across the face of the moon, changing the mood of the garden, or the stroboscopic movement of a moth when moonlight strikes its wings.
When you shop for plants, remember that the best candidates for moon gardens are, ironically, sun-loving types, since they must be planted out in the open, away from trees and other objects that would otherwise obstruct moonlight. You'll probably need to visit several nurseries to get all the whites and silvers you need. Feel free to mix perennials and flowering shrubs, and tuck annuals in the bare spots.
White flowers and silver foliage, the main ingredients of a moon garden, shine on a moonlit night and look cool by day. The pot may be filled with "Snowflake" candytuft (front), silver-leafed Artemisia "Valerie Finnis" (center) and dusty miller (right) and Chrysanthemum paludosum.
Plants that sine in the moonlight:
Tall White Flowers
Azalea
Cosmos
Delphinium
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurae 'Alba"
Hollyhock
Hydrangea
Irises (bearded and Japanese)
Lilies (daylily and Oriental lily)
Phlox
Rose
Shasta daisy (tall types)
Medium & Low-Growing Whites
Candytuft (iberis)
Centranthus ruber 'Albus'
Chrysanthemum
Lupine ('Noble Maiden')
Nicotiana
Peony
Petunia
Shasta daisy (low types like 'Little Princess')
Silver Foliage
Arthemisia ('Powis Castle', 'Silver King', Valerie Finnis')
Dusty miller (Senecio cineraria)
Lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina)
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Santonlina (S. chamaecyparissus)
Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum)
Vines
Moon Vines give a wonderful scent plus beautiful white trumpet shaped flowers, though they will need to be planted on a trellis in full sun.