Brighten up your summer evenings with a moon garden. Join Debi Holland as she shares 5 plants that glow in the dark and welcome evening wildlife.
Five plants for an illuminating moon garden
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We spend more time outdoors on summer evenings, so get your garden glowing after dark with these five plants for a moon garden.
- Evening primrose
This beautiful biennial has luminous yellow petals. The buds stay closed for most of the day and pop open rapidly at dusk, a process known as nyctinasty. The flowers give off a sweet fragrance at night to attract pollinators such as moths. Each bloom seems to glow in the dark. It wilts the following morning, but there’s another bud on the stem ready to open that night.
- Eucalyptus
Silver foliage reflects the evening light, and Eucalyptus gunnii shines. It also gives off a refreshing scent. Its young, silvery-blue leaves are round and bright, then become darker and more elongated as they mature. Cutting back the stems encourages fresh juvenile foliage and helps keep this vigorous grower to size. It also gives you lots of foliage for flower arrangements.
- Oxeye and Shasta daisies
For star-like constellations across the garden, try oxeye daisies or the larger hybrid Shasta daisies. Their brilliant white petals seem to glow at dusk as they reflect the evening light. It’s easy to see why the native British oxeye daisy is also called the moon daisy. These easy-to-grow, drought-tolerant perennials attract pollinators, and the blooms remain open after dark.
- White hydrangeas
Light up shrubby borders with a white hydrangea. Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Beauty Bell White’ produce huge, rounded heads of white blooms. Try Hydrangea paniculata Skyfall or Candlelight for large, cone-shaped flowers. Whichever you choose, the pale petals catch the moonlight and contrast with the dark foliage.
- Lamb’s ears
Lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) has silvery-white foliage that catches the evening light. I can’t resist touching the soft, velvety leaves, and neither can female wool carder bees. They scrape fibres from the leaves to line their nests. During the day, the fuzzy, nectar-rich flower spikes attract bumblebees and butterflies. At night, the dense foliage lights up the border. For low-growing ground cover, look for ‘Silver Carpet’.
And that’s my five illuminating plants for a moon garden.
