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Planting a dramatic moon garden

Get Bright with White!

Gardens are typically packed with color, but get this, you can fill a garden with a whole lot of drama by using plants of one color. Plant an all white moon garden!  White, light grey and light yellows reflect light so well that they illuminate the garden at night. A grey and white garden still has texture because you can get variation from the plant size, foliage and flowers. At night the white flowers and foliage reflect any moonlight.

Ox-eye daisies light up my night garden

Hooray for Grey!

Did you know that most grey or grey-green plants are drought tolerant? Most are also unattractive to deer?  Grey plants are the ones to look for at the nursery for easy care gardens.  Imagine an all grey and white garden in the evening. Grey can add beautiful contrast, also,  to green and yellow green pines and oaks so common in our gardens.  Try planting a low ground cover like Wooly thyme or Helichrysum at the foot of a white rose or other tall white flowering plants like lilac.

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Artemisia ‘Powis Castle,’ amongst the rosemary and thyme

Grey or White as an Accent

Plant color combinations can be jazzed up with a blast of grey like a garden favorite Artemisia  ‘Powis Castle.’ Try it with emerald green santolina and dark green rosemary for an area that needs no flowers to get its color. ‘Iceberg’ climbing roses or Potato vine have glowing white flowers in moonlight.

 

Try these:

September moon
White sedum, Sedum album
Datura, sometimes called moonflower
Shasta Daisy
Kathryn Cockroft My fence row of angel trumpets
Artemisia 'Powis Castle,' amongst the rosemary and thyme
Feverfew
Ammie Peter's Angel's Trumpet
Jeanne Sammons's Asiatic lilies
Aristocrat Flowering Pear
Asiatic or Oriental lily
Cherrie Carine's Clematis, pure white 'Henryii'
Climbing Iceberg Rose in my garden
Hardy Hibiscus moscheutos 'Disco Belle White' from Dandi Gentry's garden
Hooker's Evening Primrose Oenothera elata hookeri
Jeanne Sammon's night garden with solor lighting
Jeanne Sammons's Asiatic lilies
Jeanne Sammons's pearly white Hydrangea
Lisa Collier
Moonflower vine, Ipomoea alba
Ox-eye daisies light up my night garden
White Sage Salvia apiana

Plant by the moon:

  • New Moon – 1st Quarter Plant leafy vegetables
  • 2nd Quarter – Full Moon  Plant fruits that bear internal seed
  • Full Moon – 3rd Quarter  Plant root vegetables
  • 4th Quarter – New Moon Plants are least active…mow lawns

 

An all white or grey garden can give you a calm, peaceful feeling and be a relief from a riot of color elsewhere. Some people call a white garden a Moon Garden, but what is fantastic is that at night or in a shady area, the white and grey really comes to life!

Sue Langley

Sue Langley, a passionate gardener and photographer lives and gardens with her husband and Corgi, Maggie on 7 acres just south of Yosemite, Zone 7 at 3000 feet. She manages the Flea Market Gardening Facebook page and website.

View Comments

  • thanks for this post! I so appreciate the flower names when tapping the picture!!

  • Patricia Routt says:

    This post came at the perfect time, because I have started adding white and grey flowers to my big flower bed to brighten it up during the day but to get the moonlight effects also. I needed some more varieties and this post really helps. Thank you for another very helpful post.

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