Light up your backyard

Today’s homeowners are managing busy schedules and daytime commitments, leaving little time to take advantage of their backyard during daylight hours. With the addition of lighting, you can extend the use of your outdoor space, turning it into a nighttime retreat.

Here, the Electrical Safety Authority and gardening expert Frankie Flowers share tips to achieve a well-lit backyard escape to help you relax and unwind under the stars.

Flowers at night. While often thought of as a daytime enjoyment, some flowers can enhance your garden at night. Frankie Flowers suggests adding a mix of white flowers and silver foliage to reflect light. Great options for sunny spaces include geraniums, star jasmine or moon flower; for shady spots try tuberous, begonias or impatiens. For foliage, try dusty miller, Russian sage, sage or a Japanese painted fern to accent any garden by day or night.

Choose the right lighting. Good lighting is the key to adding ambiance to any space. As you would for indoor lighting, incorporate a layered lighting plan to enhance key features in your garden. Landscape lighting brings features like a row of cedars to life that would otherwise be in the shadows, and pathway lighting is decorative, but can also be added for safety. A nicely lit landscape can not only help you navigate your property safely at night but can also be a deterrent for would-be thieves. Landscape lighting can be extra-low voltage and use very little electricity while still looking beautiful, but it’s important to remember that certain units require a special isolating transformer specific for this purpose.

Powering your backyard. To achieve a glowing ambiance, you’ll need to bring electricity into your garden. Wires can be run in a trench in the ground and will need to be buried between 45 centimetres up to one metre underground depending on the location, voltage and wiring method. A licensed electrical contractor will help ensure the job is done right and the proper lighting is installed. (NC)