Mario Bautista
We tend to plant show-stopping blooms to admire in daylight, but there’s nothing as dreamy as an evening walk through a moon garden and experiencing the ethereal glow of plants in the moonlight. It sounds like a fairy tale, but it doesn’t have to be.
Creating a moon garden is all about selecting the right plants in a silver and white color palette. We spoke with a garden expert for their swoon-worthy, moon-worthy plant recommendations and—once you’re set up—tips for hosting a dreamy moon party.
Jerry Gorchels is a regional manager and blog contributor for PanAmerican Seed, an internationally renowned breeder and producer of seed-raised flowers and vegetables.
What Is a Moon Garden?
A moon garden features primarily white or silver plants meant to be enjoyed by the light of the moon. “Flowers at twilight or in moonlight reflect light differently during these hours than they do in the daytime,” explains horticulturist Jerry Gorchels. “This gives you a whole new way to experience and enjoy your garden.”
Technically, you can enjoy any plants by moonlight, but with some planning, you can select plants that reflect moonlight and give you a great glow at night. “[People] have been making [their] homes a proper oasis,” says Gorchels. “They are a place we need to feel calm, relaxed, or offer us a new distraction.” A moon garden does just that by extending our hours of outdoor enjoyment and entertainment.
How to Create a Moon Garden
As with any garden, consider soil type and the amount of sun exposure a location gets when choosing plants. For planning a moon garden, there are additional elements to keep in mind.
Pick Colors to Reflect the Moonlight
Once you know which plants thrive in your space, move on to the fun part: picking plants that are perfect for night-time viewing. “Choose flowers or foliage-only plants that will reflect the most moonlight or low light,” says Gorchels, adding, “White- to silver-color families work best.” He suggests anchoring your moon garden with big bloomers like snowball hydrangeas and white lilies.
Time It Right
Keep in mind the time of year your garden plants bloom so your moon garden has interest over at least three seasons:
- Include early spring bloomers such as tulips, creeping phlox, roses, and snowdrops.
- As the season progresses, replace tired plants by dropping in new summer bloomers such as Shasta daisies, Queen Anne’s lace, sweet alyssum, climbing hydrangeas, and calla lilies.
- As fall approaches, keep the garden blooming with white chrysanthemums and white pansies.
Pair those white flowers with silvery foliage, choosing plants like lamb’s ears, dusty miller, silver sage, and Russian sage. You can add more texture and interest with variegated plants, such as the hosta ‘fortunei albomarginata’.
Besides seasonality, consider the time of day when choosing garden bloomers. Some white flowers, like African daisies (osteospermum), hide their blooms in response to darkness or even overcast conditions, so you can’t enjoy them at night. On the other hand, flowers on the aptly named evening primrose plant open at dusk and stay open through the next morning.
Consider Fragrance
“Another aspect of the moon garden are flowers that become more fragrant in the evening,” says Gorchels. A bonus is that these fragrant flowers attract moths and other pollinators to your moon garden.
Fragrant-blooming moon garden candidates include white and silver petunias and white dianthus. For a flowerbed border, there’s nothing more fragrant than white alyssum.
The Best Plants for a Moon Garden
As with selecting plants for any kind of garden, choose those suitable for the gardening zone you live in. Choosing plants for a zone that’s higher than yours isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker. It just means that those plants will likely have to be replanted every year as an annual instead of growing back every year as a perennial.
Snowball Hydrangeas
These showy blooms help anchor your moon garden with large round clusters. They start with a pale green hue in June and then transition to off-white, snowball-like blooms that last into the fall.
Zones: 3 to 9
Lamb’s Ear
With soft, silvery-green leaves, lamb’s ear is a foliage plant that reflects the moonlight glow. It’s a drought-tolerant, fast-growing ground cover that grows best in full sun, but tolerates partial shade, providing three-season interest.
Zones: 4 to 8
Queen Anne’s Lace
The delicate, lacy, white petals of this hardy plant beautifully reflect the faint light at dusk. It’s a summer bloomer that thrives on neglect, grows vigorously, and reseeds so aggressively that it’s considered a common weed in some circles. To keep it from taking over, snip the flower heads before they go to seed. They look great in a cut flower arrangement!
Zones: 3 to 9
Sweet Alyssum
An excellent ground cover and border plant, sweet alyssum is a low-growing variety named after its intoxicating fragrance. It’s one of the first to bloom in spring, fades in the heat of summer, and comes back in the fall. Look for the variety ‘Easter bonnet’ with bright white blooms.
Zones: 5 to 9
White Roses
Any variety of white roses fits the color palette of a moon garden. Keep an eye out for rosa ‘iceberg,’ a white floribunda rose with romantic blossoms that continue re-blooming throughout the summer.
Zones: 5 to 9
Moonflower
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These drought-tolerant vining plants have bright-white flowers that shine in the moonlight. Starting in mid-summer and lasting through fall, its flowers bloom in the afternoon and really show off at night, making it perfect for a moon garden. They also have a lovely lemon scent.
Zones: 10 to 12
Evening Primrose
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Evening primrose is a biennial wildflower that blooms at night, making it a favorite of nocturnal pollinators like hummingbirds. Its leaves are slightly furry, and its yellow, lemon-scented flowers bloom in summer and fall.
Zones: 3 to 11
Night-Blooming Jasmine
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Night-blooming jasmine is a fast-growing woody shrub known for its powerful fragrance and colorful flowers—in white, yellow, pink, or green—that bloom in the evening. This summer-flowering plant can also grow purple, white, or red berries.
Zones: 8 to 11
Angel’s Trumpet
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Angel’s trumpet is a tall, showy plant that can reach up to 15 feet tall. In summer and fall, it produces large, tube-like flowers in white, pink, apricot, and yellow. It also has a strong floral or citrusy scent.
Zones: 9 to 11
Gardenia
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Gardenia is an evergreen shrub that’s valued as much for its strong jasmine-like scent as its white and cream flowers. It blooms at night from late spring through fall and is a popular choice for corsages.
Zones: 7 to 11
Flowering Tobacco
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This multi-colored flowering plant is prized for its fragrance. If you plant it just outside your window, its jasmine-like scent may waft into your house. Its summer-and-fall blooms open only at night or during the day when it’s cool. As you may suspect, this plant contains nicotine, and is toxic to people and pets.
Zones: 10 to 11
Dusty Miller
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The dusty miller’s silvery foliage reflects moonlight and complements other night-blooming flowers for three- or four-season interest. It thrives in slightly acidic soil and lots of sun, and is toxic to people and pets.
Zones: 8 to 10
Narcissus (White Daffodils)
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These spring-blooming bulbs look gorgeous in the moonlight. A planting of narcissus bulbs en masse allow them to really show off after dark. They’re also effective for repelling insects and rodents.
Zones: 3 to 8
Silver Mound Artemisia
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This perennial plant’s feathery, silvery leaves are perfect for a moon garden. It also has a gorgeous herbal smell, making it a coveted ingredient for potpourri. This plant’s look and scent pair well with lavender in a moon garden.
Zones: 4 to 8
Lavender
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Lavender‘s purple flowers and strong fragrance would complement any garden, but its silvery leaves make it especially nice for a moon garden. Some varieties of this sturdy perennial plant are edible—and can be added to coffee, desserts, and syrups—but can be toxic to pets.
Zones: 5 to 9
Casa Blanca Lily
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A night-time breeze carries this popular plant’s lovely fragrance. Its large white blossoms open nightly in June and July. These showstoppers grow 3 to 4 feet tall and produce six to eight blooms per stalk.
Zones: 5 to 8
Hosta ‘Fire and Ice’ (Plantain Lily)
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Moonlight catches the white centers of this plant’s heart-shaped leaves, but not the dark green trims, providing a dramatic night show. Easy to grow, they thrive with consistent moisture and don’t need much sunlight. Small, lavender flowers bloom in summer, but it’s the three-season foliage interest that makes this a prized moon garden plant.
Zones: 3 to 8
Balloon Flower
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Moonlight brings out the interesting blue-veined pattern in these white, star-shaped summer bloomers. Formally called Platycodon grandiflorus ‘Fairy Snow,’ they’re drought-tolerant, deer-resistant, and a magnet for butterflies.
Zones: 3 to 9
Caladium
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Giant white caladium leaves with dramatic green veins look striking at night and in daylight from spring through fall. These plants thrive in heat and humidity and grow as annuals in most of the U.S. If you snip their flower stalks, it enables the plants to direct more energy into their stunning foliage.
Zones: 9 to 10
Candytuft
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Candytuft is a spring-flowering woody subshrub, which is a ground-hugging perennial with clusters of small, showy white or pastel flowers. It’s especially adaptable to dry, less humid conditions and thrives in full to partial sun.
Zones: 3 to 9
Dahlia
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Dahlias bring late-season interest to a moon garden with large, pompom-like blooms from midsummer until the first frost. They come in a variety of colors and sizes, but the white ones—like the popular, dinner plate-sized ‘Fleurel’—really shine in a moon garden.
Zones: 8 to 10
Four O’clock Plants
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These bushy, blooming perennials are named for their daily bloom schedule, opening in late afternoon and not closing until the next morning. Their large, trumpet-shaped flowers come in shades of red, yellow, and pink; but the white ones look especially dramatic at night. Plant them near seating to take full advantage of their delightful fragrance.
Zones: 9 to 11
Mock Orange
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This easy-to-grow shrub isn’t orange, nor does it bear oranges, but it does have small white flowers that look and smell like orange blossoms. They bloom in late spring and early summer, drawing butterflies and other pollinators. Growing 10 to 12 feet tall, consider them as a background plant or living fence for your moon garden.
Zones: 4 to 8
Shasta Daisy
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This popular flower’s familiar-looking white petals and luminescent yellow centers make a stunning show under moonlight. These spring and summer-blooming perennials are hardy plants that require little care, are drought-tolerant, and not fussy about soil conditions.
Zones: 5 to 9
How to Throw a Moon Garden Party
The best time to enjoy a moon garden is at night, of course. “One of my favorite entertaining events is having friends over on a full moon night and enjoying the garden,” says Gorchels. “Invite guests over specifically to show off your moonlit plants. You may even see luna moths or other nighttime creatures visiting your flowers, too.”
Take your time with friends and encourage everyone to breathe in all the fragrances around you. Here are some tips for setting just the right mood:
- Add Adirondack chairs, cushioned benches, or rocking chairs with side tables to hold votive candles or solar lanterns, just in case the moon decides not to cooperate.
- Create a pathway through your garden—with white gravel or light-colored flagstone—to make it easier to navigate moonlit strolls.
- Paint a background fence white or add a white trellis to accentuate the garden area.
