Hi--
I thought to start a new forum for this, but admin suggested creating a "forum within a forum" here at Fragrant Gardening. For anyone new to Moon Gardens, they include noght-blooming flowers, fragrant and aromatic plants, plants that release fragrance at night, white flowers, and plants with silver and/or grey tones. I have a moon garden, and I hope someone out there is interested in the idea of it as well, because I'd love to have a discussion base for this!
Moon gardens!
Oh yes....let's talk.... What do you have - favorites - most scented?!?! ^_^ Great idea!!
I know that Brugs are more fragrant at night and also Magnolia Figos, love them both. When I was at the old bird farm I trimmed the trees up so I could ride through the pines. The girls always loved riding horseback on a moon lit night. The horses see better at night than we do and I never got struck by a low limb. Those were the good times.
Awwww just look at that baby!!! How old??
Let's see - old timey fragrant petunias, nicotiana.....hmmm what else fills the night air?????
Hummm..great idea! I have a moon garden and the evening is to me the best time to enjoy my garden! It's nice and quiet out...and the most fragrant plants exhale their perfume at night....
Chantell knows nicotianas are one of my favorites....not only they have a wonderful perfume but the white blooms really stand out at night!
Hummm..great idea! I have a moon garden and the evening is to me the best time to enjoy my garden! It's nice and quiet out...and the most fragrant plants exhale their perfume at night....
Nicotianas are one of my favorites....not only they have a wonderful perfume but the white blooms really stand out at night!
I too love the nicotiana--particularly because, when I cut it to bring it inside, my cats don't eat it!
Currently in my moon garden, I have nicotiana, an early flowering climbing rose, moonflower vines, corkscrew vine, artemisia, silver thyme, pineapple mint, acidanthera, snow-in-summer, tuberose, variegated ivy, white petunias, grey French lavender and a lemon tree.
Oh, there is a massive amount of wild honeysuckle growing on the fence by my tennis court (I live in a townhouse community), and I walk over there every night just to smell it! I've not had much luck actually growing honeysuckle myself, but the fragrance carries so well at night!
I had jasmine vines growing on the balcony rail for a few years, but my cats finally dug them up.
Datura is another good one, but I don't have the space to grow it myself. Same thing with Sweet Autumn clematis. But I do have a 'pistachio' clematis growing up through my climbing rose, and those creamy blooms really stand out at night!
I forgot--I also have sweet peas and four o'clocks. Scented geraniums work nicely as well!
Those of you that have a moon garden--how did you get into it? Or to phrase it differently, how did the idea come to you?
Hi, all -- though summer has come slowly to mid-Michigan, and I don't have a specific moon garden, I do have a few ideas: Datura (Moonflower) which friends gave me last year (and this! she must have a lot of seeds!) and totally astonished me by its beauty and scent; the "other" moonflower, a type of Morning Glory, climbing a tripod trellis in the herb garden and one in the perennial garden (obviously not everything is perennial)... and this year I've just planted several fragrant-blooming hostas (plantaganea, p. Aphrodite, p. Venus, Guacamole), all of whose scents are more noticeable in the evening (and with white flowers, perfect "moon garden" stuff).
Hi PadreWayne,
I love, LOVE datura, but it can be so invasive!!! Plus, the wasps love it where I am--not good! The morning glory moonflower is Ipomoea Alba; I grow it every year and love it. So do ants, but a couple ant traps takes care of that issue. This year I'm growing it in two places, both are containers. In one, the moonflower is intertwined with a corkscrew vine (vigna caracalla) which blooms diurnally, but has fantastic white blooms with a lavender tint. In the other container, its growing with a red passionflower. I get tons of seeds from the moonflowers every year!
Datura also does great in pots!
What a coincidence, I am also growing vigna caracalla and I. alba together in a pot...I can't wait for the blooms!
Hmmm that reminds me....I still haven't put my vigna caracalla outside...
This is the first time I've tried vigna caracalla, but I fell in love with the blossoms when I saw I picture! Mine is soooo happy---I really think it has a secret plan to take over my balcony! And my cats don't touch it, which is nice! Mine is budding, and I'm so excited, I check it every day to see if its blooming yet. Does yours grow really fast? I've actually been able to watch the tendrils straighten and stretch in the mornings.
I've got seven little Ipomoea alba plants in peat pots, starting to vine and ready to go along my fence. Can't wait! I agree about the white Nicotiana--beautiful at night. And here in L.A., Cestrum nocturnum always seems to be on the air when you're out on summer evenings.
Two more that I don't know if anyone mentioned are Jasminum sambac and any citrus, potted or otherwise. Years ago I rented a house that had an old grapefruit tree outside the bedroom. When it was really blooming, the whole crown looked whitish when the moon was out. And I can still remember drifting off to sleep with that incredible scent coming in through the open window.
Humm, and citrus blooms smell wonderful too!!
I do have a lemon tree, actually, and in winter I live for the fragrance of those little flowers!
Not everything has to be fragrant in a moon garden. Anything that might reflect the moonlight can be nice. I used to enjoy Catharanthus-what we call Periwinkle in Fl. The white variety sure reflects the moonlight. Any silvery plant might do the same.
Still......I love all the evening and night flowering plants that are whitish; they attract the Sphinx moth.
Lady of the Night Orchid, Brassavola nitida is nice as well as Crinums.
Good point Kevin....the whites almost glow, don't they?
I agree, silvery leaves look awesome at night...and even glossy green leaves can be beautiful too - last night was a full moon and the glossy leaves of my Stephanotis were reflecting the moonlight....SO BEAUTIFUL! I should have taken a picture but the flash would ruin it...
Chantell.....you would go nuts! Both my stephanotis and my cestrum nocturnum are blooming!
Ahhhh Roberta....so being pleased both day and night......very nice!!! I'll just keep sniffing my Orange Jasmine and Brunfelsia nitida - there's my day and night delights for now....woooowhoooo can you imagine all FOUR?!?!?
OH MAN! HUMMM!