Moon Garden

The first time I ever planted white flowers, some small spring bulbs, I was unprepared for the show those little blooms put on every day at twilight. They captured what little light there was and reflected it back with surprising brightness. Only later did I learn about the concept of a moon garden, also called a white garden or moon-viewing garden, where plants with white or pale blossoms are grouped together to create a luminous effect, both at dusk and during the full moon.

With this concept in mind, I planted some containers last spring with flowers I thought would work well in a moon garden. Let's take a look at how this gardening experiment went.


The most dramatic plant was the cleome, which grew to about 4 feet and did well in its container. But it was spent by late July, so I cut it back. Still, a nice display from this annual. In the picture above, it's early twilight, so a blue hue has taken over the image (no red sky, because of some clouds on the western horizon).


A long-time favorite of mine is alyssum, which would work well in a moon garden as a low-growing plant. Not much daylight left when this picture was taken, but the alyssum still gives off a soft glow. I also like this plant because it attracts pollinating insects (good if I'm growing vegetables alongside the flowers) and because the house finches in my neighborhood nibble at the little blossoms. That's fun to watch, and the flowers are so small, you can't tell that something's been eating them.


The dianthus did very well, although it crowded out the dusty miller I planted in the same pot. Dusty miller is a lovely foliage plant with silver-gray leaves and is often featured in moon gardens.

The one disappointment was the moonflower vine, which grew very nicely during the summer, but even now hasn't produced a single flower. Since we may have frost tomorrow night, I'm not holding out much hope, so here's a random internet photo of a moonflower, which, I understand, opens only at night and has a marvelous scent.


There it is, then - the sum of my moon gardening efforts. If you have a green thumb and want to try your own moon garden next year, check out this website for more plants to try. Many of these plants are easy to grow and if you're short on room, you can always try my method and just go with a few containers.

Finally, the image at the top of this post comes from this GardenWeb forum, where a talented gardener has posted more images of her lovely moon garden. What a beautiful oasis to create, a sensuous place where the light of the moon is honored and celebrated.