How to Plant a Moon Garden
Moon gardens extend the beauty of your summer garden into the night. Silver and pastel flowers shimmer in the moonlight while night-blooming flowers envelope you in heady fragrance. Whether you choose to create a rambling moon garden complete with statuaries and shrubbery, or simply want to enjoy a container garden under the stars, is up to you. While your moon garden won't really look like the fantasy garden above you can create an enchanting garden of your own by following a few simple tips.
Choose Light-Reflective and Fragrant Flowers
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Choose a variety of flowers in varying sizes. Whites, silver and pale pastels work best as they catch and reflect the moonlight. But, don't limit yourself to pure white. Variegated flowers, such as sweet William, can create a dazzling show in the moonlight, too. Consider adding potted plumeria in shades of white and yellow to create a stunning show of color at sunset.
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Plumeria creates a stunning show in late evening.
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Include Night-Blooming and Fragrant Flowers
Night Blooming Jasmine
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Select flowers that bloom or release their scent at night. Night-blooming jasmine, four-o-clocks and nicotainia are good choices, but don't forget to add a few herbs as well. Lavender may not reflect the light, but it will fill the night air with its sweet fragrance. Garden phlox also creates a heady scent that fills the night air.
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Use Dark Trellises to Create the Magical Illusion of Floating Flowers
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Consider the background when designing and planting a moon garden. Dark-colored trellises blend into the night giving the illusion of flowers floating in the air. The same applies to hanging baskets filled with trailing flowers. Try a green basket filled with cascading white petunias to add both fragrance and beauty to the night garden. The rose arbor at the right will blend into the night, while the light colored roses will appear suspended in midair. Plant climbing vines in front of wrought iron fences and trellises to highlight them by day and create a magical illusion by night.
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Dark trellises are invisible at night.
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Plant Under the Path of the Moon
Sunflower in the moonlight.
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Place flowers where they will receive the light of the moon. Although this sounds obvious, it is sometimes overlooked by well-meaning gardeners. Check the path of the moon on a moonlit night to be sure that other garden structures or nearby trees to do obscure it from view.
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Extend Blooming with Flowers that Bloom All Summer
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Choose flowers that bloom at different times to keep your moon garden aglow all summer. Shasta daisies and white petunias will bloom from early summer until frost and add charm to a moon garden.
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Cosmos bloom from early summer until fall.
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Add Supplemental Lighting for Moonless Nights
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Add lanterns or glowing lights to the garden to enhance its beauty when the moon is not visible. To create the illusion of moonlight, hang lanterns from trees or on shepherds hooks to illuminate the garden from above. Or try adding potted flowers in a solar plant pot that gives off a gentle glow at night.
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Create Magic with Water Features
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Water features add sparkle and soothing sound to a moon garden. These include garden fountains and birdbaths. While a white or light-colored fountain will stand out in the night, darker fountains create contrast with the light colored flowers by day. To make the most of both daytime and nighttime viewing try installing a dark fountain and add a string of miniature fairy lights or a solar light to highlight the fountain at night.
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Add Seating
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Add seating near the moon garden for relaxing under the stars on warm summer nights. Stone benches, wooden chairs or simply an old log or flat rock to sit on creates a romantic get-a-way for whispering sweet nothings under the stars.
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