36 Moon Gate Ideas for Your Witchy Garden
Would you step through these portals?
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If you’ve ever spotted a moon gate on Pinterest or Instagram and desired to have one in your witchy garden, I hear you. These circular portals feel like enchanted portals to another world.
Even if that “other world” isn’t Stargate and is just the other side of your backyard. Rooted in Chinese garden design, these archways do more than frame a view. Moon gates symbolize the Full Moon, a celestial object important both to witches and to the Chinese calendar.
Moon gates are generally constructed from stone, wood, plants, or brick, though you’ll sometimes find them made from metal or other materials.
Whether nestled in a garden, marking the entrance to a sacred circle, or standing as a solitary monument, a moon gate is a potent emblem of the connection between the physical and ethereal worlds. It invites those who pass through to embrace the mysteries of the universe and the magic within themselves.
Below, you’ll find captivating Moon Gate design ideas from botanical gardens and backyard gardens as well as those that currently only remain in the realm of fantasy… until you build one, of course.
Here’s how to build a moon gate arch with stone:
1. Stone Moon Gate
This stone Moon gate archway designed by McHale Landscape Design was created as part of a project for a private client in Baltimore.
2. Ivy Covered Moon Gate
Fifth Season Landscape Design crafted this ivy-drenched Moon gate for a client’s meditative Oregon garden in 2014.
3. Corten Steel Gate
This simple Moon gate was made from Corten steel by Greenworks design and stands out just enough amongst the trees.
4. Stargate Portal
This architectural stone archway feels like someone might have seen Stargate one too many times. Not that we’re judging. Ok, maybe a little.
5. Brick Gate
This brick gate is a lovely opening to the landscaped garden behind it.
6. Gamble Garden Gate
This design looks like it begins with Corten steel but has been since covered with vines and flowers for a lush portal effect. Photo is by Hoi Ning Wong and you can visit this Moon gate in San Francisco at Gamble Garden.
7. Sharp Gate
This magical circular opening that showcases the mountains behind it is made from stacks of thin rocks and looks like it was constructed by an artist. Or a really smart crow.
8. Stone Portal
This one designed by Garden Gate Landscaping looks like a portal to another world. The owners of this East Coast property certainly won’t mind us popping into their backyard for a trip, right?
9. Gate in the Forest
If you found this one in the woods, would you walk through it?
10. DIY Moon Gate
If you want to build your own, this wooden Moon gate was created by Wood’s Shop and they sell kits so you can DIY one.
11. Pumpkin Gate
This one, photographed by Sonoma Plantlady comes with an extra bonus in the fall: pumpkins!
12. Scottish Moon Gate
Photographed by Amy Lauren during her trip to Leith, Scotland. And wherever the portal took her.
13. Brick Moon Gate Design
This pretty brick gate is part of the walled garden at West Green House in Hampshire, England. It was built in the 1890s by Arts and Crafts architect Robert Weir Schultz and is open to the public from March to October.
14. Jungle Moon Gate
This tropical moon gate, found in the lush Brief Garden of Sri Lanka is one of my favorites.
15. Wedding Moon Gate Arch
If you want to incorporate the concept of these mystical-feeling portals into your ceremony, here’s one covered with pretty flowers and greenery.
16. Bright Gate
This stark white gate gives makes the somewhat foreboding door behind it seems that much more ominous.
17. Forest Gates
Spencer Byles’s mystical forest sculptures in Alpes-Maritimes, France aren’t quite the shape of Moon gates, but they still feel like you’ll explore the ethereal realms if you step through one.
18. Tuscan Garden Gate
A stone gate separates the different sections of this Tuscany-inspired garden.
19. Kinney Azalea Garden Moon Gate
It’s hard to choose a favorite amongst these, but this one comes close. Photographed by susteph, it can be visited at the Kinney Azalea Garden in Kingston, Rhode Island.
20. Vine Gate
This Moon Gate has been decorated with vines and lights and serves as a pretty garden entryway during both day and night. Photo by Sharon Dennis.
21. Floral Moon Gate
Oh to find this floral gate in the forest…
22. Brick Moon Gate with Steps
If this brick one photographed by Leaf doesn’t take us to an otherworldly location we’d actually be quite surprised.
23. Large Stone Gate
Heavy stones appear to defy gravity in this powerful take on the moon gate design.
24. Fairytale Moon Gate
Though this one is purely fantastical, imagine stepping out of a long tunnel and coming through a circular door to discover this secret garden.
25. Celestial Floral Gate
Part crescent moon, part skate ramp decorated with flowers. We’d be more than happy to see this warmly lit landscape design in our backyard.
26. Sri Lankan Brick Gate
Sri Lanka is home to many moongates, including this brick one photographed by Chandika Jayashanka that’s flanked with ferns and other pretty plants.
27. Suburban Moon Gate
Though we’re less then impressed by the landscape design, the stone gate itself is a nice touch.
28. Chinese Garden Moon Gate
If you’re visiting the Denver Botanical Gardens, make your way over to their Chinese garden so you can see this one.
29. Golden Gate
This inspiring design makes me think like it feels a little bit like a keyhole with its golden door.
30. Moon Bridge
Technically, this is a Moon Bridge. You can find it within San Francisco’s Japanese Tea Garden within Golden Gate Park.
31. Spooky Moon Gate
There is a chance you’ll come back if you step through this spooky portal. But, not a good one.
32. Large Gate
If you’re looking for Moon gate design ideas for your next landscaping project, here’s one that could work on a larger property opening into a courtyard.
33. Otherworldly Gate
We highly recommend wearing some armor if you’re gonna go through this one.
34. Stone Nursery Gate
We have Jim Charlier to thank for the capture of this charming stone gate from at the Paxon Hill Farm in New Hope, Pennsylvania.
35. Gothic Spiderweb Gate
The Addams Family already have a pretty great Gate, but if they ever needed another, the one with a spiderweb at the Hoveton Hall Gardens in Norfolk Broads, England would be perfect.
36. Crescent Moon Gate
This one constructed from two crescent moons and somewhat reminiscent of the Neverending Story, would be a lovely addition to any garden.
