Are you looking for a romantic moonlit walk in the garden?  Moonlight and white are a winning combination.  White flowers in the landscape fairly glow in moonlight.  By planting a mixture of white flowers in beds near a seating area, or in pots on your deck or patio, the warm moonlit evenings will beckon you outdoors.

   Choose from many white flowering plants.  White perennials and shrubs for a sunny area can include the white rose 'Iceberg', the coneflower 'White Swan', or the legendary and fragrant Regal lily.  Toss in white Gaura, lambs ears, and candytuft for foliage.  A stunning part-sun pot I used this year has 'Silver King' Artemisia teamed with caladiums and the rookie weigelia, 'My Monet.'  Perennials for shade include white Bleeding Heart and Columbine.  Fill in around the perennials with quick growing annuals such as white Cosmos, Impatiens, and Wax Begonias.  Find Nicotiana seed with old-fashioned fragrance, like Perfume Hybrids, to add a delicate scent to the nighttime air.

Thalia Narcissus

   Good, white flowered shrubs for the shade are the native Oakleaf Hydrangeas, the veteran 'Annabelle' Hydrangea, and the new and spectacular White Dome hydrangea.

   For a perennial flowering vine, grow the Clematis 'Henryi' for its large white flowers.  You can train the vines to a trellis or send them clambering up a small tree, as the English do with their Clematis.  Add more fragrance to the night with Moonflower vines.  You can almost see the large white blossoms spin open before you in the evening light.  The moonflower blossoms only last one night but there are plenty of buds coming along all summer.  Moonflower vines are annuals easily grown from seed.

'Purissima' - Tulip

   You may not be aware of them visiting your feeders.  Their preferred wild food is acorns and hickory nuts.  They also will eat berries, insects, and seeds as well as suet at a bird feeder.  To invite them to visit, place a platform feeder on a nearby tree (they use the tree for a landing pad) and refill it every evening near sundown with large striped sunflower seeds.

   Called 'Frisbees in fur' by National Geographic, they don't really fly but glide through the air from tree to tree or tree to ground.  They launch and spread their four legs, opening the furred thin skin connected from the front ankle to the rear ankle on each side of the body.  They become an effective wing, able to glide downward, steering as if they're on a hang-glider, using their flat tail as a rudder.

   They prefer living in an area of old trees where they can nest in natural cavities or abandoned woodpecker nest holes.  They will also nest in birdhouses and at times in attics or under eaves if their natural habitat has been lost.  For an overload of flying squirrel information, go to http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/flyingsquirrel/2.html 

   Whether or not night flyers visit, a leisurely evening stroll through the garden is very pleasant when white flowers reflect the moonlight.

Coach Anne