The Night Garden
Night lighting at Hidden Cove residence. Photo by Aaron Leitz.
The clocks have been set back and we have entered the dark season. It is not the time of year when we typically think of our gardens, but the shorter, darker days provide a different way to experience the landscape. In the low light, silhouette, reflection, color, and contrast become more relevant and the subtlety of sound and scent engage us when visibility is limited.
Japanese Maple at night
Fortunately, with the dark season comes the vibrance of fall color. The brilliant yellow and orange of a Japanese maple (Acer japonicum), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), or katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum Japonicum) become iridescent against a gray or darkening sky. As leaves drop, branches cast long intertwined silhouettes and shadows in the low-angled diminishing sunlight. As night falls, white flowers of late summer and fall-blooming Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida), showy stonecrop (Hylotelephium spectabile ‘Stardust’) and Wood’s white aster (Aster divaricatus) glow, and the silver foliage of lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) and Silvermound (Artemisia schmidtiana ‘Silver mound’) glisten in the slightest moonlight or carefully introduced landscape light. A few plants bloom specifically at night and though these species favor summer, it is worth mentioning evening primrose (Oenothera spp.), jasmine tobacco (Nicotiana alata ‘Jasmine’) and citron lily (Hemerocallis citrina) to expand the night garden experience into other seasons.
As darkness reduces visibility, our sense of sound is heightened, and when coaxed by wind, plants speak and sing. Anyone who has visited an aspen forest during a light breeze will recall the patter of delicate leaves, and similarly, blustery autumn winds evoke a rustling chorus from dry oak and maple leaves.
Sunset Hill photo by Miranda Estes
Our sense of smell also is heightened by reduced visual input and with its link to memory and cognition, autumn fragrances reconnect us to our garden. Once again the katsura tree becomes a star with its sweet burnt sugar aroma and while the apricot citrus scent of tea olive (Osmanthus fragrans) and perfume of eternal fragrance daphne (Daphne x transatlantica) are more common in spring, it is not uncommon to see and smell lingering blooms from these two species well into fall.
Night lighting at Hidden Cove residence. Photo by Aaron Leitz.
The seasons are changing and a new gardening experience awaits. If the short, dim days are keeping you indoors, step out into the dark and pay your garden a visit.