Plants With Lantern Like Flowers

There’s a special magic in a garden as daylight fades. To capture it, you need plants with lantern like flowers glowing in the twilight. These botanical wonders hold onto the last light, creating an ethereal display that marks the transition from day to night. Their unique shapes and often pale colors seem to luminesce in the soft evening air. This guide will help you choose and grow these enchanting plants, turning your garden into a captivating evening retreat.

This category includes a diverse group of plants united by their distinctive floral shape. The “lantern” form is usually a swollen, hollow calyx or a fused petal structure that encases the true flowers. This design isn’t just beautiful; it often protects nectar and pollen from evening dew or attracts specific night-flying pollinators like moths. When planning your twilight garden, consider these popular choices known for their luminous, lantern-like blooms.

Chinese Lantern (Physalis alkekengi)

Perhaps the most famous example, Chinese Lantern is grown for its brilliant orange-red papery husks. These husks, called calyces, develop in late summer and autumn, encasing a small berry inside. They look stunning backlit by the low evening sun and can be dried for indoor arrangements.

Growing Conditions: Prefers full sun to part shade and well-drained soil. It can be vigorous, even invasive, via its running roots.
Care Tip: Plant in a container or with a root barrier to control its spread. The lanterns are best picked for drying when they reach their full color.

Japanese Lantern (Abutilon pictum)

Also known as Flowering Maple, some Abutilon varieties have beautiful, pendulous bell- or lantern-shaped flowers. Varieties like ‘Souvenir de Bonn’ have delicate, veined flowers that dangle gracefully. They provide color from spring until frost in milder climates.

Growing Conditions: Thrives in full sun to partial shade. It appreciates rich, moist soil and protection from strong winds.
Care Tip: Often grown as an annual or in containers that can be brought indoors in colder regions. Regular deadheading encourages more blooms.

Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia)

While their huge, pendulous flowers are more trumpet-shaped, they take on a luminous, lantern-like quality at dusk. Their powerful fragrance intensifies in the evening, attracting hawk moths. All parts of this plant are extremely toxic, so handle with care.

Growing Conditions: Needs full sun, plenty of water, and regular feeding during the growing season.
Care Tip: A heavy feeder. Use a liquid fertilizer every two weeks for spectacular flowering. It is not frost-hardy.

Evening Primrose (Oenothera)

Many species unfurl their soft yellow, white, or pink flowers precisely as the sun sets, glowing like little lanterns in the border. They are often fragrant and open so rapidly you can watch the process, which is a delight.

Growing Conditions: Loves full sun and poor to average, very well-drained soil. They are drought-tolerant once established.
Care Tip: Many are short-lived perennials or biennials but will readily self-seed in favorable spots. They’re perfect for gravel gardens.

Lantern Tree (Crinodendron hookerianum)

This stunning evergreen shrub or small tree produces an abundance of deep pink to red, waxy lantern-shaped flowers in late spring and early summer. Against its dark green leaves, the flowers truly appear to glow.

Growing Conditions: Prefers partial shade and moist, acidic, well-drained soil. It needs shelter from cold, drying winds.
Care Tip: Best suited to milder, woodland garden conditions. Mulch annually with ericaceous compost to maintain soil acidity.

Designing Your Twilight Lantern Garden

Success with these plants goes beyond just putting them in the ground. Thoughtful placement and companion planting will maximize their evening impact. The goal is to create layers of light and texture that come alive as the sun dissapears.

Choosing the Right Location

Observe your garden’s evening light. The west and south-facing borders will catch the last direct rays, making lantern flowers shine. A dark backdrop, like a hedge or a dark-foliaged plant (e.g., elderberry or purple smoke bush), makes pale flowers pop. Planting near a patio, path, or window you use in the evening ensures you won’t miss the display.

Companion Plants for Contrast

Lantern flowers work best with plants that offer different forms and subtle highlights.

Silver and Gray Foliage: Plants like artemisia, lamb’s ears, or lavender reflect ambient light and highlight the lantern shapes.
White Flowers: Nicotiana (flowering tobacco), white phlox, or ‘Honorine Jobert’ anemone add bright points of light in the gloom.
Grasses: The feathery, backlit seed heads of miscanthus or calamagrostis add movement and a soft, hazy glow.

Practical Planting Steps

Test your soil. Most lantern plants prefer good drainage. Amend heavy clay soil with plenty of grit and organic matter.
Prepare the planting hole twice as wide as the root ball but no deeper.
Place the plant in the hole, ensuring it’s at the same level it was in its pot. Backfill with the improved soil.
Water thoroughly after planting and apply a mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
Consider adding subtle solar-powered path lights to illuminate your display from below without creating light pollution.

Essential Care and Maintenance

Keeping your lantern plants healthy ensures a better show year after year. While needs vary, some general principles apply to most plants in this group.

Watering and Feeding

Consistent moisture is key during the first growing season to establish deep roots. Once established, many are quite drought-tolerant. Overwatering, especially in winter, is a common cause of failure. Feed in spring with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer to support growth and flowering. Avoid high-nitrogen feeds, which promote leafy growth at the expense of blooms.

Pruning and Winter Care

Pruning needs are specific. For summer bloomers like Abutilon, prune in early spring to shape. For Chinese lanterns, cut back the stems in late winter before new growth begins. Tender plants like Brugmansia need to be brought into a frost-free greenhouse or conservatory before the first frost hits. A thick layer of mulch applied in autumn protects the roots of hardy perennials.

Common Pests and Problems

Watch for aphids on new growth, which can be sprayed off with a strong jet of water or treated with insecticidal soap. Slugs and snails are fond of the soft new leaves of many plants; use your preferred control method. The most common issue is root rot from waterlogged soil, so ensuring excelent drainage is the best preventative measure.

Propagating Your Favorite Lantern Plants

Once you have a plant you love, you can make more to spread through your garden or share with friends. The two most common methods are division and taking cuttings.

Division (for perennials like Physalis)

The best time is in early spring as new growth appears or in early autumn.
Lift the entire clump carefully with a garden fork.
Use two forks back-to-back to pry the clump apart, or cut it with a sharp spade.
Replant the healthy outer sections immediately and water well.

Softwood Cuttings (for shrubs like Abutilon)

In late spring or early summer, take a 4-6 inch cutting from new, non-flowering growth.
Remove the lower leaves and dip the cut end in rooting hormone powder.
Insert the cutting into a pot filled with a mix of perlite and peat-free compost.
Cover the pot with a clear plastic bag to maintain humidity and place in bright, indirect light.
Roots should develop in 4-6 weeks, after which you can pot the new plant on.

FAQ: Your Questions Answered

What are some good lantern plants for shade?

Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa) provides a lantern-like effect with its arching form, and some Fuchsia species have pendulous flowers that glow in partial shade. The Lantern Tree (Crinodendron) also prefers partial shade.

Are plants with lantern-shaped flowers toxic?

Some are. Chinese Lantern berries are toxic when unripe, and Angel’s Trumpet is highly toxic. Always research specific plant safety, especially if you have children or pets.

Why are my Chinese Lantern plants not producing many lanterns?

This is often due to too much nitrogen in the soil, which promotes leafy growth. Ensure they are in full sun and try using a fertilizer higher in potassium (the third number on the bottle) to encourage flowering and fruiting.

Can I grow these in containers?

Absolutely. Many, like Abutilon, Brugmansia, and even Physalis, do very well in large pots. Use a high-quality potting mix and ensure the container has excellent drainage holes. You’ll need to water and feed more frequently than plants in the ground.

How do I get my evening primrose to bloom?

They need full sun. If they are in too much shade, they will grow foliage but few flowers. They also prefer poor soil; rich soil can lead to the same problem. They are often biennial, meaning they grow leaves the first year and flower the second.

Incorporating plants with lantern like flowers into your garden design adds a dimension of beauty that is often overlooked. By choosing the right plants, placing them thoughtfully, and providing simple care, you can create a serene and magical space to enjoy at the end of the day. The gentle glow of their unique blossoms against the darkening sky is a truly rewarding sight for any gardener.