We typically associate a garden or landscape with verdant colors that are viewed and enjoyed in the brilliant light of day. However, night-blooming flowers, silvery foliage and contrasting light and dark textures can create a magical space best enjoyed by the light of the moon. Let’s explore the different aspects of creating a night or moon garden.
Flowers
The most obvious blooms to grow in a moon garden are white and light color flowers that will reflect the glow of moonlight. Choosing bulbs and flowering plants that also give off pleasant and complimentary fragrances also enhance the ambiance of a moon garden. Common blooms might be white and silver (purple-based) roses, daisies, light-color petunias, and other white or light flowers. Shade-loving flowers like white impatiens are also a lovely choice.
Aside from their color, flowers that also open up and come to life at night are an additional staple for a moon garden. Casa Blanca lilies are perennial bulbs that bloom as the sun is setting. Evening primrose may be yellow, but it opens its petals and releases a lemony scent in the evening and throughout the night. Other night blooms include moonflower, night phlox,, and Angel’s Trumpet.
Foliage
From silver and mottled to green and darker shades, leaves and foliage can play an important part in diversifying the bewitching ambiance of a moon garden.
Russian sage shrubs and lavender are edible flowering plants with layers of silvery leaves. Both the licorice plant (low growing) and coral bells (tall flower stems) produce rosy flowers but have silvery white leaves that easily reflect moonlight. There is a wide range of low-growing succulents whose pearly leaves and stems are brilliant under the moon.
Aspidistra comes in a myriad of varieties that have large green leaves with different sizes and shades of lighter spots. The Polka Dot plant and Gold Dust Dracaena have wider leaves with large spots that reflect flecks of light in the darkness. The greens of these leaves also add levels of shadow, but some plants do have dark grey and even nearly black foliage. Purple basil is a wonderful edible plant to grow in a moon garden for adding a little shadow and aroma.
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Fragrance
Fragrant flowers and other sweet-smelling blooms, like honeysuckle and jasmine, add a lovely aura to your moon garden. They also attract both day and night pollinators. Moths and bats are active during the evening and after sunset, and their activity provides invaluable pollination for vegetables, shrubs, herbs and other flowering and fruiting plants.
Flowering tobacco is a unique plant that smells slightly of jasmine and flowers at night. Although better for warmer climates, gardenias are heady and bloom bright white.
Glow
Although genetically-modified bioluminescent plants are becoming popular, there are some plants that naturally give off light. A few mushrooms, such as the Foxfire fungi, do glow in the dark to attract pollinating insects and spread their spores. Additionally, Tillandsia, a fine-leaved, silvery-green tropical air plant, has a compound on its leaves that, when exposed to UV light, triggers a light reaction. The glow is brief but exquisite.
On a final note, remember as an organic gardener to choose non-genetically modified plants, natural inputs and compost, and incorporate edible and pollinator-friendly plants into your garden. And, to fully enjoy your night garden, install benches, granite stepping stones, solar-powered garden decorations, or even a tree swing. N
By: S. Michal Bennett
As seen in the 2025 Winter/Spring edition