A moonlight garden is designed to catch the light of the moon and show off its beauty at dusk and beyond. Many landscape design tricks can fool the eye and make a moonlight garden inviting after dark. This monochromatic garden design is also soothing, relaxing and cool during the day.
Design techniques to capture light at dusk and dark include water, mirrors, low lighting, silver-leafed and white blooming flowers and shrubs. The addition of a fountain, reflecting bowl or small pond to the patio or garden beds will capture and reflect light, as well as add soothing sounds. Some dramatic lights on plants, fanciful strings of lights in bushes or around the patio and flickering candles add magic and fantasy to the evening garden setting. A mirror nestled in a tree, or strands of small mirrors dripping from branches, captures and reflect starlight, moonlight, and candlelight.
Careful plant selection can amplify the soft beauty of the night with silver leaves and white flowers. They add a soft texture and lovely scents while capturing and reflecting the light. In a sheltered area, night-blooming Asiatic jasmine is irresistible. This evergreen vine produces clusters of small, white, tubular flowers that release an intoxicating scent during the evening. Moon flower vines – a member of the morning glory family – open large white flowers after dark, releasing a delicate perfume at the same time.
The many sun-loving artemisias add silver texture and an herbal scent in the night garden. POWs castle grows to about 3 feet by 3 feet and has a soft texture. Silver mound, on the other hand, grows as a low mound with soft, feathery leaves. In the same family, silvery dusty miller and lace miller look delicate, but are quite hearty in sun or shade.
Charming and honey-scented alyssum is luminous at night. Pure white annuals such as cosmos, zinnia, portulaca and personal reflect the moonlight and can be used in borders, as edging, or to fill pots with reflective color.
To create a native plant garden that highlights white flowers and silver foliage, choose blackout daisy, sand sage, desert marigold, compact Texas Ranger sage, bush or sand penstemon, white whirling butterflies, and tufted evening primrose. Some cacti have glorious white blooms in the evening. These plants offer the added benefit of preferring our native soils and thriving on minimal irrigation. Plan a moon garden off the patio or where it can be seen from above for maximum enjoyment. Then all your evenings will be filled with the magic and mystery of the reflected light of the moon.
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