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Has anyone ever created a night garden?

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Smurfysmiles

Smurfysmiles

Ideal_Rock
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Sep 30, 2007
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Ever since I saw a picture of one in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine I really like the idea of them (so it is a prerequisite whenever we get a house that it at least have a patio area i can plant flowers around)
Has anyone done them before? Is it hard?
Here's some info I found about them:

Everyone loves flowers, though men, women, and children respond to them differently. Many of us with green thumbs, spent a fortune on buying flowering plants for our garden, maintaining them, protecting them from animals and diseases and so on, only to never be able to sit back and enjoy them. Most of the flowers that we plant in our garden are those that bloom during the daytime, when we are rushing around trying to get ready for office. At the end of a tiring day, we often wish to be able to relax in our gardens, only to find out that all these flowers are the day-bloomers. No need to worry, there are plenty of plants that bloom in the night, many of which are fragrant and extremely relaxing after a stressful day. The night queen (or raat-ki-rani) is one such plant that emits a very relaxing scent during the night. It would be, in fact, very rewarding, to create a night garden or turn a part of your garden into a night garden. It takes a little time, lots of planning and very little of your resources to build your own night garden.

Some good flowers to plant include:

Casablanca Lily

Evening Primrose

Honeysuckle

Moonflower

Sweet Jasmine

Night Blooming Cereus

Dewdrop Tulip

Four-o-clock

Sweet White Alyssum

Sedum

Sedeveria

Tuberoses

Angel’s Trumpet

White Verbena

Sedum

Pinwheel

I would probably also use 1 or 2 hydragnea bushes because i just love the way they smell :)

Anyone care to share your night gardens? Got any photos?
 
I love this idea Smurfy! I''m a big gardener, but now in our new place I''m limited to containers instead of in-ground planting (due to landscaping restrictions by the HOA). I''d love to do this in the future.
 
darn that hoa! im sure you could still produce a similar effect, you''d just have be a little craftier
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I''m going to have to show this to A. He''s the green thumb in our house--I have a knack for over-loving my plants...aka, over-watering. But I think it would be lovely to have a garden full of plants that were shining their brightest in the evenings when we can enjoy them! Thanks for posting this!
 
I figure the more night gardens there are, the better the world will smell
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This sounds awesome!

We put in a lot of landscaping ourselves last year. Well, DH does all of the actual digging and planting, I do the pointing at pretty plants and figuring out the layouts.

I''m definitely going to read up on night gardens. We have a huge patch of our front yard that we''re going to redo this upcoming season, so maybe we''ll plant a night garden there.
 
Date: 1/15/2010 11:25:51 AM
Author: Haven
This sounds awesome!


We put in a lot of landscaping ourselves last year. Well, DH does all of the actual digging and planting, I do the pointing at pretty plants and figuring out the layouts.


I''m definitely going to read up on night gardens. We have a huge patch of our front yard that we''re going to redo this upcoming season, so maybe we''ll plant a night garden there.
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Lol, DH points out the pretty plants in our family and I plant them, funny how that works!
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This sounds so neat. I''d love to try it when SO and I have more room.
 
I''m a huge gardener and used to plant moonflower so it climbed up our deck. The smell is delicious, but only about 40% of the population has the genetic makeup to actually smell the flower. The rest smell nothing. So its fun to have people sniff. :-)
 
Date: 1/15/2010 11:53:57 AM
Author: rhbgirl24
I''m a huge gardener and used to plant moonflower so it climbed up our deck. The smell is delicious, but only about 40% of the population has the genetic makeup to actually smell the flower. The rest smell nothing. So its fun to have people sniff. :-)
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That''s really interesting! I guess I would just have to go to the greenery and walk around sniffing to see if I can smell anything lol
 
Correction: I saw this in Real Simple magazine
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Here''s a few photos from the spread that had me hooked
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flower-garden_300.jpg
 


garden-lamp_300.jpg
 


garden-sofa_300.jpg
 
Yes- I made mine last spring and I love it. I''m zone 6a and I planted white evening primrose, white peonies(including a Duchess de Nemours), white tulips, gooseneck loosestrife, echinacea fragrant angel, a sweet autumn clematis on a trellis, casablanca and stargazer lilies,and several other plants that aren''t coming to mind right now. I cut the bed in a half moon shape. It''s near the back deck so we can see and smell it. I added clear solar shperes that gave it a little white light at night too. Always wanted one and I love it. Put an angel statue in there too.
 
Hello Smurfy! I''ve created a night garden in the past and it''s not easy!! Generally, it''s made up of a combination of plants that when grouped together are very impactful at night (naturally!). Not all of the night garden plants have to be white or flower at night. It''s important to have other textures both in plants and in hardscaping materials suitat act as a foil for the showy plants. This is clear in the photo that you showed by the use of rock and some hostas for example.

You generally need the area you are planning to design as your night garden to receive a good 6 hours of sun a day, so it is best suited to a southern exposure. Of course I had a northern exposure to play with, so it wasn''t easy at all!

I will see if I can dig up a good book for you on the subject. Do you mind sharing where abouts you live? Do you know which UADA zone you are in? Also, how big an area do you have?
 
that looks gorgeous!
 
Date: 1/15/2010 12:55:40 PM
Author: Gailey
Hello Smurfy! I''ve created a night garden in the past and it''s not easy!! Generally, it''s made up of a combination of plants that when grouped together are very impactful at night (naturally!). Not all of the night garden plants have to be white or flower at night. It''s important to have other textures both in plants and in hardscaping materials suitat act as a foil for the showy plants. This is clear in the photo that you showed by the use of rock and some hostas for example.


You generally need the area you are planning to design as your night garden to receive a good 6 hours of sun a day, so it is best suited to a southern exposure. Of course I had a northern exposure to play with, so it wasn''t easy at all!


I will see if I can dig up a good book for you on the subject. Do you mind sharing where abouts you live? Do you know which UADA zone you are in? Also, how big an area do you have?
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Yeah if you have any books on it that would be great to find them and check them out! We currently live in an apartment so I can''t garden right now, but I used to work in a floral shop :) We live right outside of Denver, CO and most of the homes have backyards probably have at least 2000 sq feet, I could be wrong though, that''s just what I''ve seen :) We are in zone 5 with some zone 6 (with the hilly foot hills and plains combining, its a little different everywhere
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Oh thank you so much! This will give me plenty to daydream about over the weekend and learn some new stuff too. I''ve only learned about arranging flowers and how much to water certain things, haven''t planted anything outside ever so I''m really excited to do it eventually
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I am very excited about that. You must keep us updated and show pictures. Are any of those flowers available for indoors? Since I live in an area with a plant killing winter I would love to be able to do it in a sun room or something like that so I could enjoy it all year long.
 
Another garden fanatic here...right now I'm obsessed with night blooming jasmine, we planted 2 bushes about 18 yards from the house a couple years ago...the blossoms produce a wonderful [powerful] perfume nightly and also attracts butterflies during the day.
Stephanotis are my second favorite [deep green/pure white]...we have those on trellises
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their fragrance is quite delicate now....can't wait for next blooming
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great thread~!
 
The only bad part is we all have to wait through yucky winter
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silver foliage and white florals are amazing at night esp when mixed with lemongrass greens. what a great idea...esp since most of us are home in the evening after work vs the day. i also tend to plant a lot of fragrant roses near windows and doors to get the scent into the house as well. have fun!
 
thanks for the idea, smurphy- never heard of that before!
we put a patio in last summer that is out by the shed, with its main purpose to be used at night for bonfires. i''m sure a "nightgarden" surrounding it would be incredible!
 
Other great choices are evening scented stock and nicotina. Neither of them look that pretty but they smell beautful at night. My understanding of night gardens is that they are usually white flowers that seem to glow in the moonlight and/or smell beautiful only at night.

Let us know how it goes!
 
My night garden. Center piece, a pee gee hydrangea that shines in the moonlight. This is a north corner garden, underpanted with lavender for scent and campunela.

nightbunny2.jpg
 
In daylight, but it shines at night.. there is also some annuals , verbena, the purples flowers as ground cover.

nightbunny1.jpg
 
Sounds like such a cool idea! Too bad we''re already full up w/landscaping!
 
The trick to a successful night garden is a succession of interest throughout the year. This will vary somewhat with your climate. For instance, you won`t necessarily be looking for structual plants that look good covered in snow if you live in Florida.

Most plants, certainly flowering ones have their season of glory - particularly the flowering ones, so layering the garden with perennials and shrubs that will give you a continuation of colour or scent throught the season is important, so that`s why the planning stage is important.

As Mara points out, never underestimate the power of silver foliage to give you fantastic effects. Artemesia `Powys Castle` offers two must have characteristics for a night garden. It has a delicate filigree leaf structure and when touched or rustled gives off a powerful lavender fragrance. It looks great in tubs too for the balcony and patio gardeners.

I could write ad infinitum with a selection of suitable plants and if anyone`s interested I`ll put together a list.

One shrub I will mention is Blanc double de Coubert Rose. Suitable from zones 3 to 9, long flowering season, incredible scent, and disease resistant. Doesn`t get much better than that in a rose.
 
Gailey,

I''m a huge boxwood fan for anchoring through winter and giving support in summer
 
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