20 Moon Garden Ideas That Shine Silver at Night

What's a Moon Garden?

Moon gardens have been around since ancient times. The English writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West helped modernize them in the 1950s with her famous white garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, and they're becoming increasingly popular. Many of us miss the beauty in our daytime gardens because we're working or otherwise occupied, so it's natural that we'd want to grow plants we can see and enjoy in the evenings.

Qualities of Moon Garden Plants

• Silvery or light pastel colors: Celestial-themed gardens focus on flowers and foliage in a palette of whites and silvers and colors like pale lavender and pink. Most moon gardens are designed to feel romantic or peaceful, and their plants look luminous as they reflect the light from the moon and stars.
• Night bloomers: Some bloom at night, releasing sweet scents that attract moths and other nocturnal pollinators (and yes, some plants attract bats, but that's not always a negative. Some species eat mosquitoes and other flying insects).

Planning a Moon Garden

• Choose plants for your zone: When you're ready to create a moon garden, choose plants that are recommended for your USDA Gardening Zone so they'll thrive. Tropicals, for example, won't grow back in cold winter climates. Site your garden where the plants can get as much sun or shade as they need; their tags should tell you what they require.
• Add lights to boost night glow: If you use plants that grow in shade, add some outdoor lights or lanterns, which can be solar-powered or run on batteries or electricity, to boost the after-dark glow. For convenience, put your garden near a source of water, or simply add light-reflecting plants to your existing garden or containers.
• Add other elements to reflect glow: For more glow, add white stones, gravel or pebbles or a reflective gazing ball. Star and moon-shaped accessories are fun.
• Appeal to all the senses: A fountain or stream makes musical sounds and ornamental grasses rustle in the breeze. A pond might host a small orchestra of frogs that trill and chirp. Grow some fragrant plants to enhance the multi-sensory experience.

Pictured:

This garden at Connecticut's White Flower Farm reflects the moonlight and starlight with white Veronicastrum virginicum 'Album,' a perennial commonly called Culver's Root, Phlox paniculata 'David,' Cosmos bipinnatus 'Sonata White' and Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan,' also known as coneflower. Don't forget to leave a spot to sit and enjoy the nightly show.

Nina Koziol, an award-winning garden expert and the author of White Gardens: Creating Magnificent Moonlit Spaces, used light-reflecting plants in a moon border to fill the bare patches along a walkway. Repeating plants with the same basic shape draws your eye from one end of a walkway, path or border, she says, but she keeps the design interesting by varying plants that grow vertically, like the Angel's Trumpets in the background, with plants with round or mounded shapes. "Combining different heights, shapes, textures, and foliage colors is part of being the gardener-artist," she writes, and she encourages looking at your garden like a giant coloring book or living canvas.

Atlanta-based Jennifer Rust, of Jennifer Rust Botanicals, specializes in designing and installing containers of seasonal plants, like this summery moon garden in a planter. She likes to grow white vincas, climbing white mandevillas, white geraniums, Algerian ivy, trailing Plectranthus, 'Big Ears' Stachys Byzantina (also called lamb's ear), 'White Christmas' caladiums and trailing white verbena. “When these plants are incorporated into beds or containers," she says, "they tend to really glow and can be seen in the garden in the evening moonlight even if from a bit of a distance." This container also includes pale lavender foxgloves, dusty miller plants and impatiens.

Strawberry 'Red Wonder' makes a charming, low-growing edge around this garden at White Flower Farm; it's a runnerless variety that forms neat mounds with flavorful berries. The garden includes Nicotiana alata, commonly called flowering tobacco; bright white Cosmos; white zinnias and pale Angelonia angustiolias like Archangel White. When planted against a dark green backdrop, the flowers and foliage almost seem to float like clouds. Plant in a spot with some open sky above, so you can see the stars and moon after dark and their lights can bounce off the plants.

Even if your space is limited, you can plant a bed with flowers and foliage that shine in the evenings. This bed at The Gardens at Ball in West Chicago features 'Landmark White' Lantana, 'Sugarbells' Cuphea, Coreopsis 'UpTick Cream,' and 'Moonlight White' Geranium. To soften the edges of beds or borders, try the delicate, white flowers of Gypsophia (baby's breath) or the frothy, snowy foliage of Achillea ptarmica. Don't overlook plants that open their flowers at night, like evening primrose (Oenothera biennis), four o'clocks (Mirabilis jalapa), moonflower (Ipomoea alba) and night-blooming jasmine, sometimes shown as jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum), among others. Some are fragrant, which is a treat for your nose--and nighttime pollinators.

Don't just design and plant a moon garden; add a small table and chairs and share your favorite beverage with your favorite person. "Moon gardens are special," Jennifer Rust says, "because the evening light turning to moonlight means you are not able to capture all the details visually." You see shadows, she explains, and white and silver flowers and fauna catch your eye most of time. "The key is to incorporate plants that highlight whites, pale colors and silvers in the garden, both in the ground and containers, as the details will almost glow after the sun has set and the light transitions to moonlight," and whites and silvers are the last colors you see in the evening. "Some of our favorite shrubs for summer are Annabelle hydrangeas (for early summer bloom), Limelight hydrangeas (for late summer bloom), and white & pale pink Gaura.” This image, from Nina Koziol's book, shows how you can use cuttings from your moon garden for a tabletop centerpiece.

Moon gardens aren't just for relaxing. They can be a focal point and invite socializing, like this one around a fire pit. It's accented with small lights that make the white and pale plants even brighter. For touches of silver, try 'Silver Bullet' wormwood (Artemisia stelleriana), trailers like 'Silver Falls' (Dichondra argentea) and 'White Licorice' (Helichrysum petiolare). Pure white flowers like Diamond Snow (Euphorbia hybrid) and Supertunia Vista Snowdrift (Petunia hybrid) amp up the glow. Other great choices: plants and shrubs with lavendar and pink flowers that shine in the moonlight, like Weigelas, verbenas and nemesias and plants with variegated or bicolor leaves like Heart to Heart 'White Star' Caladiums (Caladium hortulanum).

No fire pit? No worries. Let a dining area be the focus of your moon garden. This home has both a fire pit and an outdoor eating space with paths to connect them. Positioning the table and chairs near the door, where the two outdoor light fixtures cast a soft glow, helps the plants shine and provides light for the diners. They also offer enough illumination to move around safely without overpowering the plants.

While you're enjoying your moon garden, be prepared to deal with after-dark pests, especially if there's food around. Mosquitoes can be a nuisance during the day and at night, so consider using repellents or grow plants said to deter these biting insects, like citronella, lavender and basil. Their pale greens and lavenders will fit nicely into your color scheme.

"You don't need an outdoor space to have a moon garden," says Jarema Osofsky, owner of Dirt Queen NYC, a landscape design studio, and the author of Moon Gardens: A Guide to Creating an Evening Oasis. "You can create a moon garden indoors, using houseplants with silver foliage that will reflect the soft moonlight." She suggests silvery Scindapsus treubii 'Moonlight', a plant related to pothos and philodendrons, and Sansevieria 'Moonshine', a Snake plant. She likes fragrant flowers like winter-blooming jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum), Hoya obovata and Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Princess' and night-blooming cactuses like Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum). Queen of the Night blooms just one night each year, but you can find other night-blooming cacti.

"Carve out a spot near a window where you can sit comfortably and have a view of the night sky with the moonlight streaming in. You can dot flickering candles around your moon garden to create a peaceful ambience and mimic lighting bugs in the forest. Decompress with a cup of chamomile tea, rest your eyes from screens and your mind from external pressures or noise, and relax for the evening." She likes to use the dried, silvery-white seed pods of Lunaria, also called money plant, for iridescence.
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Why not grow some moon-shaped blooms in your moon garden? Hibiscus moscheutos 'Blue River II' is a hardy hibiscus with pure white flowers and blue-green foliage. This attractive shrub grows 4 to 5 feet tall, spreads 30 to 36 inches across and opens its dinnerplate-sized flowers in mid- to late summer. Seen here at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois, the plants were photographed from an angle that makes the flowers look almost ethereal against the clouds and blue sky. For other plants with round or sphere-shaped flowers, try creamy-white marigolds, dahlias and chrysanthemums.

The Mariana H. Qubein Arborteum & Botanical Gardens, located at North Carolina's High Point University, are free and open to the public. There are 30 gardens throughout the campus and a moon garden to inspire you in an enclosed courtyard at the R.G. Wanek Center. The gardeners put a special emphasis on woody plants with weeping branches and other characteristics that can be illuminated at night, like these Angel's Trumpets (Brugmansia). Other plants that shine in the university's moon garden include four o'clocks, rice paper plants, ginger lilies and weeping Japanese apricot trees. For more information on visiting days and hours, and to request a tour, click here.

This patio container garden was designed by Rosborough Partners, a full-service landscape firm in the Chicago area. The company used raised planters to hold the moonlight-reflecting flowers and foliage just above eye-level, so they're easy to see when you're sitting down. At sunset and in the evening, the white blooms and pale green foliage pop against the dark furniture and decking; white cushions complement the flowers. This moon garden has an open view of the night sky, which adds to its appeal.

'Starry Night' roses grow in sweeps in the Chicago Botanic Garden's moon garden. These shrub roses bear clusters of white, single flowers with yellow stamens, so they're ideal for filling in big spaces. Prune them hard and use them as a ground cover. If 'Starry Night' roses aren't available, substitute lovely, easy-to-grow White Knock Out shrub roses, sold by retailers like The Home Depot and many independent garden centers, home improvement stores and nurseries. Rose do best in full sun, so combine them with other sun-lovers like white or pale daisies, dahlias, zinnias and snapdragons. To keep the moon garden glowing after the summer ends, or when your annuals fade, add fall-bloomers like white Japanese anemones and chrysanthemums.

Your moon garden doesn't have to grow under the open sky (although an unobstructed view makes it easy to count the stars and see the moon). Many white and silvery plants can take anything from shade or part shade to sun or part sun during the daytime and still seem to glow at night. It yours are under an arbor or other structure, highlight them with outdoor lighting. This trellis gives the plants some shade during the hottest part of the day, and strings of garden lights illuminate them after the sun sets. ''Rockcapulo' White Double Impatiens and 'Queen of Hearts'' (Brunnera) grow happily in containers or borders in part shade to shade. Coconut-A-Peel (Thunbergia) is a black-eyed Susan vine that thrives in part sun to sun. Bring some fragrance to the table with a gardenia like Steady as She Goes, which thrives in part sun to sun. Its perfume seems to become richer after dark.

Photographed at Lur Garden, located in Oiartzun, Spain, two moon gardens invite visitors to sit and enjoy the silvery lamb's ears and spikey fescues, white foxgloves, pale green and white hydrangeas, buff-colored fountain grasses and many other types of flowers and foliage. Lur, which is also a test garden, has numerous other gardens and is open to visitors; see the website for information on tours, admission prices and open days and times. If you're looking for ideas for the shape of your moon garden, consider the looping, curving and egg-shaped beds at Lur. There aren't many straight lines, but there are ponds and pools that mirror the white and silver plants, and lots of chairs that offer a place to relax and admire the view.

Summer bulbs in shades of white and other pale colors are useful and beautiful when planted in moon garden containers, beds or borders. Try white Oriental lilies like 'Casa Blanca', 'White Swirl' Siberian irises, tuberoses, ''Crystal Clear' calla lilies, gladiolus, 'Eveline' white dahlias and peacock orchids (Gladiolus acidanthera), a species of gladiolus. Many have strong stems that are great for cutting and using in arrangements and bouquets.

Moon gardens can be as beautiful during the daylight hours as they are after dark. Just grow bright white, silver and pale flowers and foliage in containers or in the ground around your deck or patio. This design uses one wall of the house and borders of plants to create the sense of a small outdoor room. Add hints of color with lavender heliotropes, purple verbenas, pink Nemesias and fountain grasses like Fiber Optic Grass Low Bulrush, Isolepis (Scirpus) cernua (not shown). The nearly neutral palette makes the space feel bigger and works well with the tan patio pavers, rattan chairs and white chair cushions.

You'll find lots of ideas for plants that reflect the moonlight at The Gardens at Ball, where the Ball Horticultural Company inspires visitors with beds of annuals, perennials and vegetables. While The Gardens, which are in West Chicago, aren't usually open to the public, organized gardening groups like master gardeners and garden clubs can make appointments for free, self-guided tours. Click here for information on visiting.

If you don't have a nearby botanical garden, public garden or display garden, check out surrounding neighborhoods to see what private homeowners are growing. Consider begonias like 'Dragon Wing White,' Zesty White zinnas, 'Cora White' Vinca and Salvia 'Silver Scent'. For frothy, frilly foliage, try white Achillea ptarmica, also known as sneezeweed, or Gypsophila, commonly called baby's breath.

You'll find more inspiration in the display gardens at White Flower Farm. You're welcome to stroll around the moon garden to pick up ideas and ask the staff for growing advice. The name, White Flower Farm, comes from the first perennial garden grown on the site, an all-white moon garden that's still open to visitors.

The plants in this border include Hydrangea arborescens 'Haas' Halo', Achillea New Vintage White, Cleome hassleriana 'White Queen', Dahlia 'White Perfection' and Leucanthemum x superbum 'Becky,' better known as 'Becky' daisies. It isn't dark all the time, of course, so before you plant your moon garden, pay attention to where the sun rises and sets. Grow taller plants at the back of your bed or border, so they won't shade the shorter ones when the sun is out.

While tiny, white flowers can give your moon garden a fairy-tale look, for lots of flower power and a big impact, use masses of plants like this Phlox at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Phlox paniculata 'David' blooms from about midsummer into early fall. Opt for a mix of annuals and perennials and use plants with staggered bloom times for an ongoing flower show. While Creeping phlox is a good choice if you want lower-growing plants, Luminary 'Backlit' Phlox is a tall variety that works beautifully in moon gardens.