Moon Garden Inspiration for the Midwest

03.05.2024 - 14:18 / finegardening.com

My wife and I are both avid gardeners, but we typically only find time to sit and enjoy the landscape at dusk or after sunset. To maximize the evening appeal of our landscape, we have incorporated many plants that provide visual interest and scent as night sets in. If you’ve considered creating a moon garden for evening relaxation, I’ve compiled a few ideas to get your design wheels turning.

When lighting is limited, certain colors and fragrances become more pronounced, impactful, and memorable. While sunlight provides roughly 100,000 lux (lumens per square meter), moonlight offers only 1 lux. In the moon’s relatively weak light, objects that are white, silver, gray, light pink, or pale yellow appear almost luminous, while darker colors become muddy and muted.

To maximize the impact of your moonlit landscape, it is important to block or eliminate as much light pollution from streetlights, exterior security lighting, and other sources as you can. Remember, it takes about 10 minutes for eyes to fully adjust to a moonlit garden scene, so be patient and resist the urge to flip on the porch light.

It is possible to put together a dynamic mix of perennials, annuals, trees, and shrubs that will give you abundant interest and a progression of flower displays over the entire growing season. Make sure to include plants with a variety of flower forms and plant architecture.

Position plants that emit pleasing fragrances close to seating areas; a pot of angels’ trumpets (Brugmansia spp. and cvs., Zones 9–11) tucked in near a bench is a recipe for pure magic! Many plants become more fragrant in the evening including seasonal evening bloomers like moonflower vine (Ipomoea alba, Zones 10–12), night phlox (Zaluzianskya capensis, Zones