Home and Garden

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. Read on to know more tips for gardening at night.

Creating Night Garden

Location

Plan as to where exactly you would like to keep a night garden – the patio, the deck or a special spot in the garden where you like to relax. For instance, if you want it on the patio, you could invest in ceramic pots of different sizes.

Blooming White

It is important to have white flowering plants in the entire assembly. Some of them grow better in the ground than in pots. Plant the perfuming flowers in the ground, as they will freshen up the whole atmosphere.

Leafy Too

Next, choose plants according to the colour of their leaves, they will add variation in colour too. Some of the plants like Artemisia have silver coloured leaves that might glow in the night, giving the garden an ethereal glow.

Light Up

Invest in soft lighting arrangements for your garden. This will give the garden a glowy look, which is relaxing. If you cannot find scented plants, use scented candles instead. Use candles in a terracotta tub full of fresh flowers and potpourri.

Miscellaneous

Decide the theme for the garden and add the necessary elements – like small figurines of animals, a small water fountain, a small paper Mache lighthouse and so on.

Some Commonly Used Night-Blooming Plants

Here are some common plants that bloom in the night. You may ask your neighborhood gardener for them or look for them at a nursery.

- 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