Give your garden festive sparkle

There are lots of ways to make your own garden glow, using outdoor fairy lights, lanterns and uplighting in warm, welcoming tones, to cheer the cold nights and get you into the festive spirit.

Here are some experts tips…

Create tree appeal

Kevin Martin, head of tree collections at Kew, says: “One of the best ways to add festive lights to your garden is to wrap pea light LEDs around the trunk and branch structure of any trees in your garden. This is always incredibly popular at Christmas at Kew, and will bring interest into your garden through the long dark nights of winter. It will also accentuate the lovely structure of the tree.

“Another way is to use uplighters on the ground, pointing directly up through the canopy and highlighting the trunk. Again, be sure to use LEDs, as halogen bulbs give off heat which can cause damage to bark in the colder months,” Martin adds. “Good trees to light up in the winter months are birches, with their striking white bark.”

Think warm colours

“Select a warm white light with a slight hue of yellow in it for a warm and traditional look,” suggests Matthew Pottage, curator of RHS Garden Wisley (rhs.org.uk). “Pure white lights have a colder and more stark appearance, which can say ‘winter’ as opposed to ‘Christmas’.”

A pure approach of all warm white lights gives a very timeless and elegant effect, he adds, but if you want a kitsch, vintage look, mix all colours.

Fill your frames

“Anything structural can be highlighted beautifully with lighting, such as an arbour, seat or feature tree, but just go back to atmosphere rather than decoration. Less is more is key in creating a magical space,” says designer Andrew Duff (andrewduffgardendesign.com), co-chair of the council of the Society of Garden Designers and director of the Inchbald School of Design.

Consider lighting types

Duff says: “Solar lighting has got much better, but if you’re prepared to turn things on and off, the battery-operated LEDs are superb and last a very long time, certainly as long as you’d need them in the evening. Then there are no electrical requirements.”

Make the most of planting

“If you’ve still got the dried foliage of grasses and the seedheads of perennials in winter, they capture the light and always reflect candlelight if you have it nearby,” Duff advises.