Maine Garden Ideas
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        • 4 Best Tomatoes for Short Seasons - Early Tomatoes
        • 5 Early Maturing Tomatoes for Short Season Gardening
        • How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
        • How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes at Home
        • Grow Your Own Amazing Pomato Plant - Tomatoes on the Top and Potatoes on the Bottom
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How to Plant a Moon Garden

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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 

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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Sweet Wiliam
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White Tulips
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Variegated Daisies
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Plumeria creates a stunning show in late evening.

Include Night-Blooming and Fragrant Flowers 

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Night Blooming Jasmine
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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Lavender
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Garden Phlox
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Four o'Clocks

Use Dark Trellises to Create the Magical Illusion of Floating Flowers

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.

Plant Under the Path of the Moon 

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Sunflower in the moonlight.
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

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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Daisies bloom in early and midsummer.
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Asian lilies bloom in midsummer.
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Lily of the Valley blooms in early spring.
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Cosmos bloom from early summer until fall.

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.

Create Magic  with Water Features

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.
Copyright © 2014 Nannette Richford



  • Home
  • Garden Thyme Blog
  • Themes
    • Butterfly Gardens
    • Moon Gardens
    • Sensory Gardens
    • All About Fairies
  • Flowers
    • Annual Flowers >
      • Alyssum
      • Cosmos
      • Geraniums
      • Marigolds
      • Morning Glories
      • Nasturtiums
      • Petunias >
        • Reviving Petunias
      • Snapdragons
      • Sunflowers
      • Sweet Peas
      • Zinnias
    • Perennial Flowers >
      • Golden Glow (Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Hortensia’)
      • Lupines
      • Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)
    • Maine Wildflowers
  • Veggies
    • Warm Season Vegetables >
      • Beans >
        • Growing Beans
        • Growing Pole Beans
        • How to Make a Teepee Trellis
      • About Corn >
        • Growing Corn
        • What is Baby Corn, anyway?
        • Can you grow corn in containers?
      • Cucumbers >
        • Grow a cucumber in a bottle
        • Growing Pickling Cucumbers
        • Growing cucamelons (Mexican Gherkin)
        • Why do cucumbers blossom but fail to set fruit?
        • Trellising Cucumbers
        • Making Cucumber Relish
        • Powdery Mildew on Cucumbers
      • Melons
      • Peppers >
        • Growing Peppers
      • Squash >
        • Growing Zucchini
        • Spaghetti Squash
      • Tomatoes >
        • How to Harden Off Tomato Plants
        • How (and when) to Prune Tomatoes
        • Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) for Tomatoes
        • Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes
        • Growing Cherry Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets
        • 4 Best Tomatoes for Short Seasons - Early Tomatoes
        • 5 Early Maturing Tomatoes for Short Season Gardening
        • How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
        • How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes at Home
        • Grow Your Own Amazing Pomato Plant - Tomatoes on the Top and Potatoes on the Bottom
    • Cool Season Vegetables >
      • Cole Crops
      • Greens >
        • How to Grow Spinach
        • How to Grow Malabar Spinach
        • How to Grow Swiss Chard
        • Harvesting and Cooking Beet Greens
        • How to Grow Microgreens
      • Onions & Garlic >
        • How to Grow Garlic
        • How to Grow Onions
      • Peas >
        • Growing Garden (shelling) Peas
        • Growing Sugar Snap Peas
      • Potatoes >
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Containers
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Hay Bales
      • Root Crops >
        • Growing Beets
        • How to Grow Carrots
  • Herbs
    • Growing Basil
    • Growing Chives
    • Growing Lavender
    • Herbal Tea Garden
    • How to Grow a Culinary Herb Garden
    • How to Grow Herbs in Sponges
    • Colonial Herb Garden - Classroom Project
    • Herbed Butter
    • Making Herbed Oils
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting Basics
    • Grafting Basics
    • Soil >
      • Starting a New Garden
      • How to Prepare Soil
      • How to Test Soil Drainage
      • What Type of Soil Do You Have
      • Soil Mix Recipe for Containers
      • How to Make Compost Tea
      • How to Use Mulch
      • Control Blister Beetles
  • Birds
    • Hummingbirds >
      • DIY Hummingbird Feeders from Recycled Bottles
      • Annuals for Hummingbird Gardens
      • Perennials for Hummingbird Gardens
    • About Birdseed
    • Choosing a Birdfeeder
  • Fiddleheads and Fairies
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • How to Marinate Roasted Vegetables