With the festive season upon on us, it means decorations will be lighting homes all across the country. As the evenings grow dim, add some holiday cheer to your home while highlighting the best features of your exterior. If you’re curious about how to use Christmas lights to really make the most of your landscape this year, here are a few simple tips to get your home looking festive and inviting this holiday season.

Enhance Your Entranceway

The front door and exterior entranceways are always a key focal part of the home since they naturally draw in your eye. You can easily enhance the look of your front entrance by hanging garland and lights around the door frame or placing miniature potted evergreens with lights on either side of the doorway to create a stunning display to welcome you and your guests.

Illuminate Favourite Features in Your Garden

Got a favourite feature that you’d love to show off in your garden? Whether it’s a Japanese Maple, fiery Winterberry shrubs, Cypress evergreens or other features, you can highlight the best areas throughout your garden by placing spotlights in front to create a soft and sultry glow. This will make those special features pop during the darker evenings while adding some character to your landscape.

Create Holiday Planters

Creating your own festive planters is another great way to get into the holiday spirit while adding splashes of colour to your exterior. Swap your old arrangements with combinations of Red Dogwood, Pussy Willows, sprigs of evergreens, Holly, Birch and any other items that you enjoy looking at. Once they’re arranged to your liking, add small strings of lights to light up your porch when the family arrives for Christmas dinner.

Use Lanterns

Since it’s the darkest time of the year, having some extra light along your steps or walkway can beautify your home while making it safer for walking to and from your front door. And lanterns are always a welcoming addition to any exterior. You can use solar-powered lights, battery-operated ones, or even white Christmas lights bunched up inside of the lanterns to brighten up your steps and walkway once the sun goes down.

This holiday season, use Christmas lights to make the most of your landscape by illuminating your walkways, front entrance, and those special features throughout your garden that add character to your exterior.