Night Garden
Gardening by the Yard : Episode GBY-807 -- More Projects »
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Want to enjoy your garden at night? Add white or light flowers, and fragrance too, if you can. Here, 'Iceberg' rose.
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Do you want to add romance and mystery to your landscape? Don't have time to garden during the day? If so, a night garden can solve both problems.For Erica Powell-Zinn, running the family nursery business means long hours, and occasionally the chance to do what she loves most--garden. But the 12- to 16-hour days tending to the garden at work leave her little time to work in her own garden. Because nighttime is the only time she has for gardening, Powell-Zinn finds rejuvenation in the tranquility of her own backyard evening garden.
"My favorite thing is to take a walk in the garden and see what needs to be deadheaded and watered," she says, "then sitting down afterwards, relaxing and enjoying the breeze with my husband." Relaxation, beauty, romance and the swirling of fragrances among blooming flowers are a wonderful way to lull the day to a close.
So if you're ready to start your own night garden, Powell-Zinn suggests choosing plants that are white--like Brachycome (figure A) or white impatiens, or that have silvery foliage such as lamb's ear (Stachys) (figure B).
As night falls the entire look, feel and smell of the garden changes. Powell-Zinn is partial to flowering tobacco, or Nicotiana. By day the trumpet-shaped blossoms are closed (figure C), but at dusk flowers and fragrance come to life (figure D). "The coolest thing about Nicotiana is that there are so many different types," she says. "There are some bright colors like bi-color purple (figure E) and 'Lemon Lime' (figure F), and the thing I find the most exciting is the fragrance they have in the evening."
Plants which bloom or release their fragrances only at night belong to a "noctiflora" group. But there are many other plants perfectly suited for an evening garden. Light flowers or foliage found on plants like bacopa (figure G), aromatic honeysuckle, lamb's ear, gardenias, nemesia, partridge feather (Tanacetum densum) (figure H), verbascum, all suit evening gardens. The list of plant options goes on and on, so what you choose depends on your taste and growing conditions.Powell-Zinn features plants like meadow rue (Thalictrum), which is adorned with purple blossoms to complement the lily. Hostas with their variegated foliage prefer shade, smell wonderful at night and are a great foliage plant for the evening.
In Powell-Zinn's garden, the willowy meadow rue (figure I) punctuates the star of the show, white petunias with all their flashy white blossoms. The crème colored trim on the hosta dominates the dark green foliage. And the star jasmine (Jasminum nitidum) smells as good as it looks (figure J). Powell-Zinn says having the moon in the right spot definitely lights up the garden, but moonlight is definitely not required. You can add your own lighting, including candles, torches or simple landscaping lights.
When maintaining an evening garden, you might want to spend a little more time deadheading the spent flowers. This will encourage more flowers to bloom, which in turn means more night color in your garden. And more night color will beckon you to relax in a garden custom-made for the stars.
Related Articles:
Fragrant Evening Garden
Moon Garden
Nicotiana in August
Gardening Lighting
Garden Aglow
Guests Erica Powell-Zinn
Co-owner, Garland Nursery
5470 NE Highway # 20
Corvallis, OR 97330-9622
Phone: (541) 753-6601
URL:
www.garlandnursery.com Also in this Episode
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