Night in bloom

By Brooke Bilyj

Published September 11, 2019

As we say goodbye to summer, take a look at Auburn Pointe Greenhouse and Garden Center’s 13th annual Midsummer Night’s Garden Party, which took place in July. The sold-out event is a huge success each year and helps the Ohio IGC showcase some plants and hard goods customers can’t see during the day. —

The author is a freelancer writer based in Cleveland and frequent contributor to Garden Center magazine.

Each event ticket includes a catered dinner and dessert buffet, as well as two complimentary moon garden plants to take home. Guests dine inside the greenhouse, serenaded by soft violin music and surrounded by white lights and charming garden vignettes.
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

Guests can roam around Auburn Pointe’s property before the dinner and then take another stroll after dessert to watch the landscapes transform. “That’s when the magic happens, at dusk when it gets dark,” says owner Louise Reiling. “The fragrance comes out and you can see the gardens change from light to dark.”
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

Auburn Pointe’s gift shop invites guests to create their own moon gardens at home, offering plenty of fragrant white flowers and silver foliage in addition to wind chimes and garden art.
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

“The whole idea of the night is to celebrate the evening garden,” Reiling says. “We have moonlight garden vignettes all around the property to show people what’s possible.”
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

Reiling also adds candles to glass jars to create simple lanterns. “Hanging lanterns are hard to sell in the day, but they’re beautiful at night so our sales of those really increase,” she says.
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

The Midsummer Night’s Garden Party at Auburn Pointe culminates with a luna moth release at night. Guests can watch the large nocturnal insects emerge from their cocoons and pose for a few enchanting photos before they fly off into the moonlight.
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

The theme for the 2019 Midsummer Night’s Garden Party was “Secret Garden,” referring to the many hidden vignettes that guests could explore. The key elements of each moonlight display include fragrant white flowers, seating, lighting and sound from waterfalls or wind chimes.
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

Small landscaped vignettes throughout the property evolve into romantic candlelit scenes after dark. “We put floating candles in the bird baths, and it instantly creates a beautiful setting,” Reiling says.
PHOTO BY BROOKE BILYJ

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