Gardens are romantic places by definition, but there is something particularly alluring about a night garden. Sometimes known as ‘moon gardens’, as the name suggests, night gardens are gardens designed to be enjoyed once the heat of the day has passed. They conjure balmy evenings, the garden aglow with moonlight, a place for romantic lovers' walks or whispered plots and schemes. In countries where the heat of the day causes both people and plants to wilt, night gardens come into their own. As dusk falls, a new cast of plants and insects wake up to begin the business of flowering and pollinating, offering an alternative performance to their daytime counterparts. While the first moon gardens appeared in Mughal India, they have been much imitated and reinvented since. Everyone from Vita Sackville-West to Martha Stewart has fallen for the bewitching charms of a night garden, but what is it that makes them work?
The non-negotiable element for a garden that comes alive at night is a monochromatic palette. With the lights down low, plant colour becomes irrelevant as few can be read come nightfall. But white-flowering plants positively glow. In the dusky twilight a plant that feels bleached at noon, comes alive. And it’s not just the flowers - silvery foliage catches the moonlight and provides a lovely contrast to darker leaves, and pale grasses will do the same. Given that strolling around a garden at dusk is more likely a summer pastime, opt for summer-flowering plants such as white hydrangeas, roses and phlox or the silvery fronds of artemisia or the handsome spikes of a cardoon. As with other planting schemes, think about of variety in form – large mop heads with more delicate shapes, and more so than with traditional gardens, plant in generous groupings to create impact.
The other crucial ingredient in a night garden is scent. Many plants release their fragrance only in the evenings in a clever evolutionary dance to attract nocturnal pollinators such as moths and nectar-feeding bats. By honing into plants that attract night-pollinators, not only will you be creating a fragrance-filled evening haven, but you’ll be boosting the biodiversity in your garden through supporting a broader spectrum of wildlife. Tobacco plants, jasmines, gardenias, lilies and honeysuckles are all plants that will deliver a heady hit of fragrance, and many can be grown vertically for extra scent. Smothering walls and obelisks with climbing plants, you can layer the planting, maximise growing space and intensify the effect.
Structurally, night gardens work best as enclosed spaces – think Sissinghurst’s white garden or a compact city courtyard smothered in heavily scented night jasmine. Within the confines of a walled space – be it from structural planting or your neighbour’s fence – a single colour palette and fragrance will feel more intense. To amplify further, consider a simple pool of still water to reflect the moon, or a mottled mirror ensconced in a tangle of climbing roses to bounce the moonlight around the space. And whilst a Mughal palace or a 16th- century castle certainly adds to the romance, really the most crucial element is just a chair, and possibly a gin & tonic to sit down and enjoy the spectacle.
What to plant for a night garden
An annual tobacco flower which releases its utterly irresistible jasmine-scented fragrance at dusk. A shower of trumpet-shaped white flowers sparkle on tall erect stems. Needs sun.
For ultimate wow-factor, the flowers of Angel’s Trumpet can be up to 30cm long, and a little tricky to conjure into bloom. Native to Brazil, it’s tender but semi-evergreen, needs full sun and plenty of space.
A much adored and widely used plant, but for good reason. It’s evergreen, fast-growing, will tolerate shade and delivers incredible scent from a carpet of pretty star-shaped flowers.
The velvety soft silvery leaves make wonderful ground cover by day and night. This is the perfect foil for darker evergreens, and it glows in the moonlight.
A night-scented stock that delivers cottagey charm and buckets of fragrance despite its diminutive appearance. Palest lilac in colour, this is a hardy annual that can be sown direct where you want it to flower.
Philadelphus is a hard-working shrub and a garden classic. It has lovely, richly scented flowers that are particularly delicious first thing in the morning and early evening, with dark foliage.
