Scott LaFleur, Botanic Garden Director

There is something about the moon that draws you in and captivates you. Its mesmerizing qualities are rivaled only by the ancient snake charmer enticing his slithering friend to rise slowly out of his basket, freezing onlookers in their paths.

This is exactly how my daughter Lilly and I felt on a recent Friday while taking a walk in our neighborhood, enjoying the imposed darkness only a power failure could bring. As we crested the large hill that descends towards our home, we froze—mesmerized by the biggest charmer of them all: the winter solstice moon. It left us speechless and feeling as tiny as ants on Mt Everest. Lilly’s high-pitched and innocent exclamation broke the silence, “Daddy, my friend the moon … he’s beautiful!” For in the mind of a three-year-old, the moon is not a great celestial body that needs to be explored or conquered; it’s her nighttime companion that watches over her and keeps her safe as she sleeps.

As we continued our journey home, watched, and guided by our friend the moon, we sang about our hero Rutherford the Brave:

     He said there was a place where we should go
     So he led me through the forest to the edge of a lagoon by which
     We wandered 'til we reached a bubbly spring

     We walked along beneath the moon
     He led us through the bush 'till soon
     We saw before our eyes a………MOON GARDEN!

At home Lilly and I went to the special place we have in our yard, simply called "the moon garden": a special place Lilly and I created for times when I get home late and we share snacks. What Lilly doesn’t know is that it’s also a special place to where Mom and I retreat for warm, relaxing, and romantic moments.

What is a moon garden?

Exactly what you think it is: a garden area designed to be enjoyed while relaxing in the still of the evening, an enchanting place with its phosphorescent glow of shimmering silver foliage, iridescently glowing white flowers, and the exotic fragrances of flowers that  are as nocturnal as a possum.  

Moon gardens should find a special place in the yard of every overworked, stressed-out family that can barely find a moment to stop and smell the flowers in the rush of the day.

Where to begin

The first thing to do is find a spot in your yard that is easily accessible at night and, if you have children, within range of the baby monitor. This may be as simple as your existing deck or patio or as elaborate as a winding path to a secluded corner of your yard. Be sure to select a spot that’s open to the sky to let the moonlight in and that’s away from uncontrolled light sources such as street lamps or a neighbor’s flood lights. Make it cozy, comfortable, and concentrated so you can relax and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of your lunar lounge.

Elements of design

As with any small garden space, less is more. Keep it simple and soothing. The whole point of this space is relaxation, and the less going on the more at ease you’ll be. Concentrate on a few simple elements.

You might start with creating a reflective focal point; there is nothing more soothing than gazing into a pool of water, watching the moon shimmer in the ripples. But water is not the only great reflector for the moon. Try an old fashioned gazing ball in several sizes and colors. Mirrors or a polished piece of black marble work great too. Both of these choices are really cheap, or even free. Glue a broken mirror into a mosaic or find a local stone or marble dealer because they usually have a big scrap pile in the back they may allow you to search through for free.

Make it cozy

You are going to want a comfortable and cozy place to sit. If your space is big enough, a table and chairs can turn your moon garden into a great outdoor dining room that really gives you a reason to linger over those last glasses of wine. Really comfy lounge chairs are great or maybe a big sand box so you can nestle in the sand and pretend you are at the beach. A nice arbor with a hanging swing makes a great place to sing little ones to sleep or to whisper sweet-nothings to special grown up friends as well.

Lastly don’t forget moon gardens are not only for summer, so plan for good winter structure as well. Use evergreen backgrounds and plants with interesting or appealing bark. As Lilly and I discovered on that icy evening, a moon garden encased in ice can sparkle like a 24-carat diamond.

Native night owls

The main attraction to any moon garden is, of course, the plants and the friends they will attract. Every flower has its trick to lure pollinators in and keep the family growing. Night blooming flowers are no different. They use their reflective properties and enticing fragrance to attract insects. Thus you need to choose plants that have light colored to white flowers, variegated or silvery foliage, and interesting seed heads, bark, or buds for winter interest.

You should always start with the structure of your garden and give it a backbone for all seasons. Backdrop plants also have the added feature of providing silhouettes, sharp and pointy, round and billowing, or graceful and weeping. My top choices for the evergreen backdrop would be: Ilex opaca (American holly), a classic of the holiday season that has a wonderful pyramidal form and great berries. The leaves of Ilex opca make great silhouettes in the night. Ilex glabra (inkberry) has a nice soft mounding appearance and cute, unthreatening oval leaves. Abies concolor (white fir) has a soft blue to whitish appearance that makes it stand out in the moon’s soft light. The real show stopper is Lecothoe fontanesia, Dog Hobble cv. ‘Girarads rainbow’ with striking variegation and the bonus of blueberry-like white flowers in the spring.

Next up, in front of that backdrop, use trees and shrubs with interesting bark or leaves. If we are talking white at night there is none better than the Betula papyrifera (white birch) cv. Renaissance Reflection. The striking white bark provides a show all season and the dangling catkins in spring provide a fanciful display of shadows in a gentle breeze. We certainly can not forget its much loved cousin Betula nigra (river birch). This tree may be slightly overused in the suburban landscape but for good reason. Easy to grow, it has wonderfully attractive salmon bark. There is even a great dwarf cultivar called ‘little king’ if you are running low on space. Chioannthus virginica (fringe tree) is a gorgeous tree with a wonderful weeping form and sultry white blooms in July that beckon with its aroma. The long pendulous blooms glow like a Christmas tree in July under the light of the full moon.

Finally Acer pennsylvanicum (striped maple) and its showy sibling A. pennsylvanicum cv.Erythrocladum have big translucent leaves and wonderful striated bark. There are many great shrubs to choose from as well. The early blooms of itea virginianica (sweet spire), the deeply intoxicating fragrance of Rhododendron arborescens (sweet azalea) provides an early summer bloom. Later in the season look to Clethra alnifolia (summersweet) and its many cultivars to enliven with form, function, and fragrance.

Show-stopping flowers

Finally, the real show stoppers are flowers and fragrances. While it’s an annual in New England, the mother of all night bloomers, Datura wrightii (angel trumpet), is well worth having. This big, bold textured plant native to Texas has trumpet-like flowers that open at night and exude a fragrance that is either liked or despised, so give this one a smell before using it. Another great plant with roots in the southwest is yucca filamentosa (yucca), which presents sharp pointy leaves that create accenting silhouettes and a gigantic flower stalk of white bell-shaped fragrant flowers you should not miss.

If you’re looking for something less common but just as showy, try Eryngium yuccifolium (rattlesnake master). With its yucca-like foliage and whitish globe-thistle like flower heads, you will think a fiber optic cable exploded in the garden on a full moon evening. Just when you think you can’t stand any more white, there’s a nice evening primrose in light pink or yellow. Oenothera speciosa (long tube evening primrose), a sweetly scented, prolific self-seeder offers just the right touch.

There are so many wonderful plants to choose from it’s hard to pick my favorites. I will stress however that flowers are fleeting and foliage is forever (sort of) so don’t forget the great soft silvery foliage plants such as Artemisia stellaria (beach wormwood) or Antennaria rosea (pussytoes), which provide soft silvery and luxuriant foliage.

Moon friends

Luxury, love, family and friends are what moon gardens are all about. So get ready to meet a whole new cast of characters that you may not know about. The nightlife you will enjoy in your moon garden will delight, dazzle, and downright amaze you. Throughout the night the unknown world of moths comes alive. While are over 11,000 species of Lepidoptera in North America, only 756 are butterflies. The rest are moths. The poor moths have a bad reputation when in reality only a few are damaging.

Many night blooming plants have long tubular flowers that are just right for some really cool moths such as the hawk or sphinx moth (also known as hummingbird moths). Some of our most stunning and beautiful moths such as cecropia and luna cannot feed as adults and are only alive for a few days—just long enough to mate at night by the light of the soft glowing moon.

By day that special spot in your background looks like a regular garden, but at night it’s a moon garden.