Everyone loves to relax and lounge in their garden during the long summer days. The ensuing darkness after sunset can transform your garden into a place of magic. To enhance these sublime evening experiences, moon or white gardens were popularized a few years ago. Let’s see the elements of a moon garden and how you can create this landscape design in the city of Sacramento to create an oasis of calm relaxation.
Moon gardens include plants with white flowers and silver foliage seen in the moon’s reflected light to create a sense of mystery and romance. These landscape designs also include flowers with pronounced evening fragrances that heighten the sensory experience. Light-colored hardscapes and accessories are used to further accentuate the garden at night in this type of landscape design in Sacramento.
Since our eyes can only see a limited color spectrum and contrast in the dark, white flowers and foliage take on a glow that appears to float in the air since the contrasting green foliage disappears into the darkness, thus creating a magical effect. Hence, your outdoor surroundings become a multi-sensory experience.
You don’t need to adorn the entire yard with moon garden plants to create a moon garden design. Even a small section of the patio or a secluded corner of the yard can be utilized to create an intimate area for quiet reflection. So here are some tips to create a beautiful moon garden in your yard.
Choose A Site
Pick an area that is easily accessible or a spot that can be viewed from a patio, porch, etc. Make sure you pick an open area to allow for stargazing and moonlight illumination. Consider the play of light and shadow to enhance the mystique and intrigue.
Include Different Components
Ensure that you include a mix of plants, accessories, and hardscaping. It can be something as simple or elaborate as you want. This may heavily depend on your budget and space.
Hardscaping
Make use of light-colored stone materials like flagstones, pebbles, or white marble chips. You can paint the background wall white and incorporate a white lattice trellis or other screening to support the vines.
Pathways
Make sure the pathway can be easily navigated at night for safety. You may use white gravel to outline paths or install light-colored flagstones. Soft solar lights or other artificial lighting are also great options.
Seating
Place a comfortable chair or bench. You may also include a small table for offering tea or a glass of wine. A solar lantern or votive candle placed on the table will add to the charm by creating subtle illumination.
Accessories
You can adorn the space with decorative accents like metallic wall art, reflective gazing ball, or light-colored accessories like Buddha, cherub, or stolen lantern.
Lighting
You can add supplemental lighting for illumination on overcast or moonless nights. But make sure that you keep it subdued so that it does not overpower the moon’s natural light. Hanging string lights above a patio or along the fence, adding lanterns, candles, or uplight trees, can add to the illumination.
Engage the Senses
You may include elements that engage the senses of smell, sound, and sight. This can be done by:
- Adding a small fountain or waterfall to provide the soothing sound of moving water and also reflecting the moonlight
- Attracting night-sounding creatures like frogs and crickets by creating a natural habitat for them
- Including plants like bamboo or ornamental grasses.
- Choosing night bloomers that are highly scented and placing them near the seating area.
Extend the Theme
You can further emphasize the celestial theme by including plants with star-shaped flowers, adding star and moon-shaped accessories, creating crescent-shaped planting beds, hanging a string of twinkling lights to stimulate the stars, etc.
Choosing the Right Moon Garden Plants
- Select plant varieties with different sizes, leaf shoes, and structures.
- Use a mixture of white-flowered annuals, perennials, roses, bulbs, and vines.
- Include variegated or silvery foliage to lend contrast, visual interest, and texture
- Add different shades of white flowers, including ivory, snow-white, pearl, and cream.
- Select night garden plants that will bloom at different times. Make sure they have attractive foliage that will lend continuity throughout the growing season.
- It is better to group the same varieties together in drifts of 3-5. Larger blooms will look better in the dark than smaller individual flowers.
- Pick only a few primary plants rather than a lot of different varieties. This will keep the design from being too busy.
- You may include vines to add vertical height. Support climbing jasmine or moonflowers with a trellis for a living wall of color and fragrance.
- Incorporating container and in-ground plantings is a great idea.
- Remember that plants heavily scented at night will attract moths and other nighttime pollinators. This will help maintain a healthy eco-balance in your yard.
The Bottom Line
Moon gardens are your perfect option if you love seeing your garden all lit up and beautiful, even at night. Following the above tips will help create the ideal outdoors at night, where you can relax and unwind under the moonlight after a long day at work.
