Höst Dóttir

I have a pretty severe allergy to sunlight (photosensitivity) and I can’t spend too much time outside during the day without getting enormous, painful, blistering, itching, swollen rashes. It looks like when Samantha got a chemical peel on Sex and the City.

But as a witch who was raised in a highly agricultural family, I love gardens and sitting outside. Everything at night closes up, wilts, etc. The solution?

Nocturnal gardens, aka night gardens, aka moon gardens.

Yup, it’s a thing.

I’m starting my nocturnal garden in the next couple of weeks, in fact. There are night blooming flowers and flowers that give of scent at night too. It should be noted, however, that the night scented flowers will attract more moths, so think about that before you do it. I don’t mind moths. The majority of my life has to be lived at night, so it’s worth it to me to create my garden based around nocturnal life. I mean, let’s face it - I’m a nocturnal creature. I’m part of the night.

Here are a few examples of night blooming flowers.

Evening primrose Night bloom water lilies Moonflowers Night gladiolus Casablanca lily Nottingham catchfly Four o’ clocks Brahma Kamal Dragon Fruit Flowers Dutchman’s Pipe Cactus Indian Peace Pipe

These are different than night scented flowers though. For example, Japanese honeysuckle blooms during the day but the scent carries though the night and attracts moths for pollination. There are several varieties of night scented flowers if that interests you.

Make sure you do your research first. Not all flowers should be planted in all regions or exposed to all animals, children, other plants, etc.