KPOV - the Point s1

KPOV - The Point

Gardening: Get Good at It

“Growing a Moon Garden”

September 13, 2016

A moon garden is a wonderful way to extend the amount of time you can enjoy your glorious garden. Planning and plotting your moon garden is essential, but also a lot of fun.

The idea behind this garden is to grow plants that can be experienced at night both through sight and smell. A moonlight garden contains primarily white or silver plants, as these colors reflect the most light and will glow in the light of the moon. Night-fragrant plants add to the allure, mystery, and enjoyment of these romantic gardens.

The concept of the moon garden is not new. Centuries ago, white sand and pond moonlight meditation gardens were common in China. The moon garden became popular in America in nineteenth century New England.

When designing a moonlight garden the most important thing to consider is location. Your garden needs to be placed where the moonlight will strike it. Walk around on a moonlit night to scout out possible sites. You need to avoid places where the trees will cast moon shadows.

Your moon garden location should be near your porch, patio, or wherever you enjoy sitting or strolling in your yard. You can work with a small or large area or use containers if you have limited ground space. Fences, walls and trellises are assets for night-blooming vines like the “Nelly Moser” Clematis that grows to several feet to the “Silver Lace” vine that can reach 12 feet.

Something else to consider is indirect lighting for the nights when there is no moon. You might want to pick a spot where light from a house window or porch light will shine.

Your garden spot also must get adequate sun, as most flowering plants require at least six hours of direct sunlight. For beds that will get less than five hours of sun, select shade-loving plants such as white impatiens, variegated hostas, and lungwort.

During the summer months, the moon will be low in the sky and to the south. So the moonlight will come from this direction. This means you should place the shorter plants on the south side of the garden, taller plants to the north, east, or west.

What you plant is your decision, and the choices of plants with white or silver blooms and foliage are plentiful. That's also what makes designing a moonlight garden so challenging. As a rule, only plants in the same shade of white should be combined. An off-white flower next to a bright-white flower will look dingy. But you can get around this by separating the whites with another color like green. The whites will appear to be the same, even if they are different shades.

Avoid putting all the scented plants in one location. Keep in mind, too, that not all scents blend well, so you may need to remove or move some scented plants.

One downside to an all-white garden is that when the flowers fade, many turn brown. You will need to deadhead the spent blossoms to keep the garden aglow. Many gardeners include light yellow, cream, pale lavender, light pink, and other soft, almost-white colors in their garden.

I have a personal fascination with the moon. Pair the moon with flowers… it’s pure magic to me. The Harvest Moon rises September 16th. That is this coming Friday! And I am ready for a garden stroll… by the light of the silvery moon.

For a list of possible plants choices for your moonlight garden and other garden topics, visit www.gocomga.com and click on the orange tab. Thanks for listening to, “Gardening: Get Good at It” on KPOV, The Point.

Some suggestions for plants for your moonlight garden:

Annuals with white blooms: pansies, violas, cosmos, white marigolds, daisies, dianthus, white zinnias (Try new, low varieties like "Crystal Star" and "Profusion White.")

White-scented annuals (do the sniff test, as not all white varieties will have a scent or you may find some scents unappealing): white alyssum, white-scented petunias, snapdragons, candytuft.

White perennials: white violets, creeping phlox, oxeye daisies, Marguerite daisies, irises, dahlias (these are tender and will need to be dug up for winter), garden phlox "David", white gooseneck loosestrife, white bellflowers, snow-in-summer, foxglove, Shasta daisies, white mums, asters.

Vines: moonflowers, clematis, climbing roses, morning glories, climbing hydrangea, honeysuckle.

Trees or shrubs: rose-of-sharon, Korean spice bush, white lilac, hydrangea, crabapples, viburnums.

Fragrant flowers: evening primrose, nicotiana, moonflowers, night phlox "Midnight Candy," angel's trumpet, evening stock, soapwort, August lily, vesper iris, various daylilies.

Night-fragrant plants (those that open during the day but release their scent only at night): perfumed fairy lily, night gladiolus, tuberose. Many of these are tender bulbs that need to be dug up over winter.

Plants with interesting silver, white, or blue foliage: lamb's ear, dusty miller, lungwort, artemisia, variegated hostas, silver-leaved creeping thymes, ribbon grass (root-invasive, so use in contained areas), some coralbells.

Many of the above come in colors other than white, so check the description in the seed catalog or with the experts at your local garden center to make sure you are buying the right variety.

To enhance the garden's appeal in the daylight hours, include a hint of color. Add a warm glow to the garden by mixing in subtle shades of pale yellow, light blue, or light pink. Avoid strong colors like orange and red as they will dominate the garden.

References

http://easttexasgardening.tamu.edu/2014/07/02/moon-garden/

http://web.extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/homeowners/040124.html

http://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/moonlight.htm

https://www.highpoint.edu/gardens/moon/

http://www.aces.edu/dept/extcomm/specialty/moongarden.html