Betty Montgomery: 'Moon Gardens' create sense of mystery, romance

Have you ever thought of having a “Moon Garden”?  A garden with plants that shine at night by reflecting the light of the moon or other outside lights.  As night falls, our senses are heightened, and we become more aware of outdoor surrounds. In the dark, our eyes only see a limited spectrum of color. White flowers seem to float in the night since the green foliage tends to disappear in the darkness, creating a sense of mystery and romance.

These gardens include plants with white flowers and silvery foliage since they reflect light. Two years ago, I decided to try to create a garden that would reflect light and would be pretty in June, July and August.  I wanted to locate it in an area we use during those months, a place where we spend a good amount of time dining outside.

For years I had thought of creating a white garden and had read about the Sissinghurst white garden that Vita Sackville-West had created, which has been considered one of the loveliest gardens in the world. Plus, I had visited Amy Oate’s home for a charity event and admired her white garden that sparkled in the moonlight.  I had thought about these two gardens for some time, then I decide to “bite the bullet” and move forward.

I knew I could not copy Vita’s plant list. She had a lot of roses and other plants that would not grow as well for me as they do in England. I did learn from Vita’s writings that I needed to use a mass of plants as she had done in her garden. She planted a mass of a particular plant in an area and then another mass of a particular plant in another area. This is what makes an impact which could be seen at a distance where a single plant blooming in the evening would be lost in the dark of the night.

I also got some tips from Amy’s Garden. She had large white hydrangeas as a back drop which I remember well that fall night. She had masses of white pansies and other white flowers glowing as they reflected light.  I had seen white gardens in the day but this was the first time I had seen a “Moon Garden” at night.

When I started, I first planted shrubs that would work as a back drop since I had a large area to fill. Being a “hydrangea nut,” I knew hydrangeas would be a major part of the garden.  I planted ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas in the back center, in front of some evergreen shrubs.  I was going to be looking down on this garden and I knew this would be the perfect backdrop.  ‘Limelights’ get to be about 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide, a height I needed.  I also used an Althea or Rose of Sharon, ‘White Chiffon’ since it also gets quite tall and has showy white flowers in mid-summer.

I had several ‘Snowflake’ hydrangeas, that I had planted years ago and they too would help, having been put there to block the site of a neighbor’s driveway.  This oakleaf hydrangea is one of my very favorite plants because it has a lovely double flower and it blooms over a long period of time.  They also drape nicely over the bank below part of the garden.

In front of these I planted several different hydrangeas that grow lower and would bloom at different times: ‘Annabelle’, ‘Blushing Bride’, ‘Wedding Gown’, ‘Fairytale Cascade’, and ‘Bobo’.  These fill up space, are reliable, and easy to grow.

‘Annabelle’, an arborescence hydrangea, is showy and a nice focal point before turning a chartreuse as the fade.  ‘Bobo’ and ‘Limelight’ starts to bloom about the same time, giving me a nice array of flowering shrubs.  These were what I planted the first spring and summer.

Then last year, I added perennials in front of the shrubs.   I love agapanthus and today, there are ones that are hardy to USDA zone 6.  I chose to use ‘White Galaxy’ agapanthus that have so far, done quite well for me and made a nice show this year.  ‘Bright Lights’ phlox, ‘Becky’ Shasta daisy, variegated iris, and ‘The Price is White’ coneflowers are perennials that are shorter than the shrubs but taller than some of the lower growing perennials that are in the front where I put Powis castle artemisia, ‘Queen of Hearts’ Brunnera, ‘Lambs Ear’, and ‘Patriot’ Hosta.  These perennials are all strong growers and are preforming nicely.

Plants I have added this year included Casa blanca lilies and two annuals, ‘New Guinea’ impatient and flowering tobacco ‘Nicotiana alata’.

There are many more plants one can plant to make a white garden starting in the spring; white azaleas, daffodils and other spring flowering plants.  I want to make sure my white garden has plenty of white flowers in the summer months.  Now, to make sure I have a few more white blooming plants in August, I plan to visit nurseries in August to see what I might add to have something extra to have the last of the season.  I am thinking that adding annuals later in the season will help carry the garden until I am ready to head inside to have dinner.

I started this garden in early 2020 and I know the garden will be even prettier next summer when the plants have filled out even more.  They say the first year of planting, the plants sleep.  The next year the plants creep and the third year they leap.  Well, I know I have given them a lot of attention with water and fertilizer and it has paid off.   You can do something similar and you too can have good luck if you give them some TLC.   Happy Gardening.

Betty Montgomery is a master gardener and author of “Hydrangeas: How To Grow, Cultivate & Enjoy,” and “A Four-Season Southern Garden.” She can be reached at bmontgomery40@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: 'Moon Gardens' create sense of mystery, romance