The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article called Midnight in the Garden that explored the topic of moon gardens — that is, gardens designed to be experienced after dark. Luminosity and fragrance are usually the most important elements of such gardens, so they rely heavily on white flowers.

According to the article:

Multicolored flower gardens look muddy in moonlight, but moon gardens glow because of their predominately white flowers and silvery foliage. Some blossoms unfurl only at day’s end—especially moonflowers (Ipomoea alba), a type of morning glory; angel’s trumpets (Brugmansia arborea), so named because the flowers open downward, as if from heaven; and devil’s trumpets (Datura meteloides), so named because they open from the opposite direction. Both are poisonous and emit a perfume that grows more pronounced in heavy evening air. The white flowers, which seem to illuminate the dark, are visible to night pollinators such as the sphinx moth, which is drawn to the scent and the tubular, nectar-filled blooms.

The article’s author, Anne Marie Chaker, also blogged about her own experience creating a moon garden at her own home, and you can read that post online as well, at the WSJ’s Speakeasy Blog.

Flowers that open at twilight: moonflower (left) is a vine in the morning glory family and angel's trumpet (right) is a woody, tender perennial with a strong fragance

I’m more accustomed to the term “white garden” for a garden designed around white flowers and silvery gray foliage. These have been popular through the ages, with the most famous being the white garden designed by Vita Sackville-West in the 1930s at Sissinghurst Castle, in England.

Spirea, a deciduous shrub, blooms in late spring

The idea of relying on white flowers for gardens and terraces that will be used primarily at night seems a bit old-fashioned to me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not without its charm. I do love white flowers, but I also tend to be one of those gardeners who wants one of everything that grows, so it would be hard for me to limit my palette this way.

Left: Dramatic, snowball shaped blooms on Viburnum macrocephalum. Right: The white panicles of oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia) glow in a shady spot.

Let’s say you have a terrace or courtyard that’s the perfect place to relax with an evening glass of wine… or even a picture window that provides a glorious view of your back garden. And, you want to extend your enjoyment of a flower bed or a water feature past sunset. I think the best way to do this is through well planned landscape lighting — and I’m not talking about the security floodlights that come on every time a raccoon walks past the motion sensor!

Plants with silvery foliage, like this artemisia, are often used to complement white flowers in moon gardens -- but they're also an effective foil to brighter colors and hot hues

I did a quick Google search on adding landscape lighting to gardens and quickly found two good newspaper articles. Here’s an excerpt from the Toledo Blade:

There’s an art to lighting the landscape, so deciding what to accent, how to aim the lights, and where to place them is one of the keys to a successful project.

The idea is to cast light on structural and natural features, not make the display all about the light itself. Techniques include uplighting, downlighting, spotlighting, silhouetting, shadowing, and washing. The light should make you see the rough texture of stone on a house, or the spray of water in a fountain, not a line of bulbs marching like little soldiers along a sidewalk or the front of the house.

The Cape Cod Times also makes several good points, including this one:

Most of us don’t spend nearly enough time outdoors for one reason or another. Landscape lighting expands our opportunity. Not just in the summer, but all year long. Lighting enhances our view during the dark months of the year. Imagine being able to see the snow falling outside while you relax with a cup of cocoa. Or the beauty of beds of tulips and daffodils on a cool spring evening. You might even spot wildlife you’re not aware of. Outdoor lighting creates a window on the world, adding to our enjoyment 12 months of the year.

If there are any landscape designers out there, I’d love to have you weigh in — what are the best options for enjoying a garden after sunset? Are white flowers the most important element, or is effective outdoor lighting?