Showcase Your Landscape with Five Tree Lighting Tips (Sponsored)

This article is sponsored by Home Depot:

Pretty soon, we’ll have more darkness than daylight as winter settles in. Tree and landscape lighting can lift the gloom and make your house safer at night.

“I think it gives you 24-hour curb appeal,” says Joe Archer, owner of Mobile Joe’s Landscaping in Alpharetta, GA.

Here are five tips to get you started:

-        Walk around the property and figure out what you want to emphasize with outdoor lighting. Archer likes to show off the branch structure or the tree canopy.  “It almost looks like the tree is floating,” he says.

-        Try to get as much information as possible from landscapers or the Internet so you end up with results you can live with and love.  Many landscapers will give you a free consultation.

-        Use good quality fixtures. “There’s nothing more frustrating than getting it done and then three months later, the lights don’t work,” Archer says.

-        Install security lighting to be landscaper-ready. Bury your wires so that your landscaper doesn’t cut them while doing yard work.

-        Avoid in-ground fixtures if possible – they attract ants, and they are easily overwhelmed with mulch, which could become a safety hazard or ruin the fixture.

Editor's Note: Check out Stone Mountain-Redan Patch's business directory for lawn and garden services that may be able to help you achieve your exterior house-lighting goals.