You toil all spring to make sure your garden and landscaping are beautiful. But come summer, enjoying your handiwork is reserved to glimpses on bright weekend days because work and other commitments keep you away from home during most daylight hours. 

The solution? Plant a few lights among your bushes and plants. Outdoor lighting looks great after dark — and invites you and your family to linger outdoors on warm summer nights.

Even in the spring and fall when the sun sets early, lights help show off landscaping. And, in winter, lighting the branches of a leafless, snow-covered tree can create a dramatic outdoor display.

Outdoor lighting can be as simple or elaborate — and as affordable or extravagant — as you choose. A few, well-placed lights can transform a pitch-black backyard into a shadowy showcase.

And placing lights in your yard helps protect your property from prowlers and saves your family from stumbling in the dark.

There are several ways to make your yard glow at night: An electrician can thread electric lines through waterproof pipes, bury them deep in the ground under your plants and light up the night with 120-volt lamps similar to the ones you use indoors. Or, you can do it yourself with easy-to-install solar or low-voltage garden lights whose wires do not have to be buried — you can brush a little mulch over the lines to hide them — and, unlike the more expensive 120-volt lights, pose little risk of shock for curious pets and children.