Southern California Moon Garden
- Julie Ball
- 21 hours ago
- 3 min read
In my recently purchased book, A Year and a Day of Everyday Magic by Deborah Blake, I was inspired to plant a moon garden. A moon garden is a garden of flowers that bloom at night. So in theory you can plant a variety of night bloomers together and have a lovely spot that blooms and smells wonderful under the stars.
Although I am just starting to get watering and care down for my day time plants I felt inspired to try this. I took the list of plants and whittled out the plants that were toxic as I have a dog and a cat that roam freely in my yard.
The next step was even more important. Which of the plants that were left would survive inland southern California?
Southern California sits solidly in USDA Zones 9b–10b. That means mild, virtually frost-free winters, blazing summer highs in the 90’s/100’s fahrenheit with very low humidity away from the coast, alkaline soils and, these days, chronic drought.
This project seems daunting, but if I can pair organic mulch with thoughtful watering, I can turn a little pocket of my yard into a fragrant moon garden that will bloom almost year-round.
Below is a plant-by-plant look at how each of the species will perform in the conditions I live in and a few hands-on tips for keeping them happy.
Moonflower / Moonvine (Ipomoea alba)
This tropical morning-glory cousin adores heat and needs nights consistently above 60 °F to bloom well. Grow it as a fast annual vine on a sturdy trellis, give it regular deep water and dead-head spent blooms to keep pods from turning invasive. Expect a first flush of dinner-plate white flowers about 10–12 weeks after sowing.
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
You’ll see this California native in freeway medians for a reason: it shrugs off drought once established. In gardens it likes full sun, occasional soakings and room to sprawl. Be ruthless with volunteer seedlings if you don’t want it wandering though. The lemon-yellow cups open at twilight and close by mid-morning.
An alternative if out of stock at Select seeds is a variety called Snowy Evening Primrose from Edenbrothers.com
Night Phlox (Zaluzianskya capensis)
Think of night phlox as living potpourri. It stays compact, about a foot tall, and thrives in containers where you can coddle it with afternoon shade and consistent moisture. Treat it as a cool-season annual. Blooms peak in late spring and again in early autumn when nights dip below 70 °F. Let it sulk through August heat waves and shear it back for a fall encore.
Evening Stock (Matthiola longipetala)
Another cool-lover that excels in our shortened “shoulder seasons.” Direct-sow in September/October for winter–spring bloom. By the time June brings the furnace blast, the stock is ready to retire. Keep soil evenly moist though because parched plants quit making scent.
White Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus cultivars)
Cosmos are drought-tolerant exhibitionists that bloom non-stop in SoCal from April until first Santa Ana blasts, provided you dead-head and hold back on fertilizer. They shrug at 100 °F afternoons but bloom best if you give them a weekly deep soak. Excellent filler between the more shrub-like night bloomers above.
Quick-Glance Cheat Sheet
Plant straight into the ground now: Moonflower, white cosmos.
Treat as shoulder-season annuals: Night phlox, evening stock.
If you are wanting to give this a go, as I will soon, check out this Seed Sewing Guide from Selectseeds.com
These two companies also came up in my search, edenbrothers.com and johnnyseeds.com but Select Seeds had all of the seeds I wanted for this project.
With a bit of strategic shade cloth, thoughtful irrigation and faithful mulching, these plants could survive here in my moon garden, even on a 95 °F afternoon like today. Granted I keep up with the upkeep! Here’s to fragrant summer nights and the soothing glow of white petals under the stars.
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