Garden theme - Outer Space

My daughter said that she would sometime like to have a topiary tree clipped to look like a rocket on a launchpad. I think there is a skinny juniper called 'Skyrocket' but probably it wouldn't have enough foliage around the base to make proper fins, so if she wants a realistic looking rocket topiary she might have to make a wire frame.

We thought there would need to be some other space-theme elements in the garden so the rocket wouldn't look out of place, and we amused ourselves furnishing an imaginary Space Garden.

It needs a flying saucer - this could be a metallic birdbath or fountain on a slender pedestal, with a ring of LED lights around the rim.

The flying saucer needs surroundings that suggest alien worlds. What about a ground cover of black mondo grass with Allium cristophii (ornamental onion) floating star-studded globes above the black plain? Or a gravel garden planted with 'Living stones' (lithops)?
And cactuses - they often look like aliens. Elephant's Foot also looks suitably intergalactic.



(Photo shows an alien family slightly bemused by the Earth garden they are visiting.)
















Ornaments are practically mandatory. Anything is possible, from an orrery to a garden gnome in a space suit. An Aeolian harp to play the music of the spheres... A fountain with a ringed planet made of glass spinning on a swirl of water...

What plants could we include? Sunflowers, of course... maybe decorated with stick-on eyes, ears and antennae so they look like extra-solar tourists. Moonflower vine. Star jasmine. Lunaria, for its moon-shaped pods. Cosmos. Aster. Rocket. Jupiter's beard. We would love to include Venus's fly trap, not only because of its name but also because it looks so spacy, but it wouldn't survive in the open garden. Maybe the garden can feature a special habitat, an interplanetary Wardian case, to accommodate Venusian visitors.

It was fun to play with a few ideas for a space-themed garden. If anyone has actually made one, or would like to add to the lists of plants or ornaments, the Impatient Beginner would like to hear from you.