A lot of people don’t realize you can grow plants and flowers that bloom at night. Cultivating a magical moon garden is a great way to get in touch with nature, and it provides a beautiful and fragrant backdrop for your moonlight rituals in the summer. If you plant these lovelies close to your house, you can open the windows and take advantage of their aromas as you sleep.
Many night-blooming plants are white and give a luminous appearance in the moonlight.
If you plant them in a circle or a crescent shape, when they bloom, you’ll have the moon herself right there “as above, so below.”
NIGHT BLOOMING PLANTS
Moonflower: Yes, it should be painfully obvious, but the Moonflower does bloom at night. It releases a slightly lemony scent when it opens up, and during the day the white flowers are tightly shut. Some species of this climbing plant, a cousin of the Morning Glory, can get up to eight feet long*. The flowers, when open, are around 5 – 6″ in diameter.
Evening Primrose: This perennial spreads rapidly, and can cover a lot of ground for you. The pale pinkish-white flowers open at dusk and release a sweet aroma.
Night Phlox: these pretties open up at dusk, and have a fragrance reminiscent of honey or vanilla.
Evening Stock: the tiny purple and pink flowers aren’t very fancy, but they smell divine when they open at night.
Angel’s Trumpet: Another vine, this annual spreads like crazy. It is trumpet-shaped, white flowers have a bell-like appearance when open.
Night Gladiolus: this plant isn’t nocturnal, but that’s when the creamy yellow flowers smell the strongest — it’s a very spicy scent that’s a glorious addition to any night garden.
Moonflowers only bloom at night, and the bloom is wilted by morning. They have a really sweet, heavenly smell…
by Patti Wigington of
www.thoughtco.com