Despite having five pets, I’ve never had much success keeping plants alive. When I was young, I spent hours each year trailing behind my mom as she wandered the rows of our local greenhouse, carefully selecting endless crates of petunias, marigolds, impatiens, zinnias, and more. You name it, she had it stacked in our car ready to be planted in her flower bed.
Her patience with the planting process and encyclopedic knowledge of flowers was, to me, staggering. But aging has meant learning to love the process of everything, so I’ve decided to try gardening myself in a way that jibes with my maximalist aesthetic and also offers me a meditative hobby like my mom’s. And I found the perfect fit for me when I was recently introduced to the concept of moon gardens, or gardens that are meant to be enjoyed at night.
I thought, surely something that thrives in the dark could jibe with my blacker-than-green thumb, my Brooklyn apartment, and my love for all things spooky, ethereal, and nocturnal. Here’s everything I learned about moon gardens and how I planted my own.
What Is a Moon Garden?
The key feature of a moon garden is that it contains white or silvery flowered plants whose petals reflect the moonlight. Selecting fragrant blooms can intensify the mystical aura, as can using silvery, light-colored vegetation to enhance the overall glow and fill out your landscape. A moon garden can be planted in a garden bed or in a container.
Some folks add decorative pieces to enhance the mystical vibe, which was the clincher for me since I’ve never found an inch of living space I couldn’t dress up with a trinket.
The Best Plants for a Moon Garden
The folks at Ball Horticultural — the grower behind Wave petunias and Burpee seeds, among many others — recommend the following plants for a moon garden.
For my garden, I picked:
An oversize spreading petunia with snow-white petals that have just a hint of iridescent sheen
15-inch tall impatiens in white
A white caladium
A pale green polka dot plant
My total came to $44.44 — in my opinion a reasonable sum for self-exploration and a whimsical Sunday project. Since I live in an apartment, my moon garden lives in a container.
My husband and I drove to Queens where I hit up HomeGoods to browse their mid-season planters since I would have to keep my garden small and apartment-friendly. I settled on a circular black container that resembled a cauldron for $24.99 — all the better for infusing magic into my witchy garden.
How I Made a Moon Garden Work in My Small Apartment
My arranging happened in stages, starting with the petunias. Since there were a handful of stray purple and deep pink flowers in my petunias, I cut out a strategic section to leave my pot full of exclusively white buds and decamped the colorful clump to a Mackenzie Childs teapot to live out the rest of their days. Everything else was a breeze, from settling the impatiens into their space to filling it all out with the light greenery.
Despite having two walls of 10-foot windows in my Brooklyn loft apartment, moonlight is hard to come by because of the city’s light pollution. Thus, I relied on the next best thing: The IKEA paper lantern sphere that hangs in the main living space and the “Starlight” setting on our programmable Govee lights. The blue light radiated off the petals, giving the arrangement the exact eerie glow I wanted. If I decide that I’d rather my plants see the actual moon in the future, I can always haul my container garden up to my rooftop.
My Best Advice: Lean into the Decor
I’m a lover of skeletons and spooky things and all things Halloween, so I hit a nearby Michaels to browse their Summerween offerings knowing I’d want to add some accessories to my garden. I spotted a small, glittering ghost right up front, and into my cart he went alongside a jar of iridescent ornaments.
Ashland Iridescent Halloween Ball Ornaments, 30-Count
Ashland Iridescent Halloween Ball Ornaments, 30-Count
Michaels
$8 (was $10)
Buy Now
My plan was to cover any inch of bare soil with something that shimmers to enhance the moonlit glow. (Like I said, I’m a maximalist!) With the IKEA lamp on, my ghost friend shines bright as the centerpiece, and the ornaments give the illusion of a bubbling elixir. To my delight, when I clicked off the lights for bed, the arrangement still reflected a small amount of ambient light streaming in from the streetlights outside — a city mouse’s moon garden, if you will.
Use Annuals for a Yearly Tradition
Overall, my gardening skills need some honing, but I’m proud of the arrangement I made. The low stakes were helpful since the supplies were cheaper than I expected, and knowing I mostly used annuals means I won’t feel a sting of failure once the buds start to wither.
I can easily imagine this becoming a fun midsummer ritual each year, and the process of selecting and planting them helped me feel closer to my mom despite the 600-mile distance between us. I just sent her a collection of photos so she can appreciate me finally coming into my own as a gardener, and I know she’ll offer advice on the best items to plant next.
Further Reading
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