As the temperatures get warmer and days get longer, people retreat to their back porches, verandas, decks, and outdoor living rooms. We gather around grills and firepits to tell stories and commune while we celebrate birthdays, engagements, and random Friday nights.
How can those areas can be enhanced to make evenings more interesting?
Use plants with variegated foliage.
White variegation on foliage will reflect off lighting and the moonlight, shining an ambient light into your space. Choose plants such as variegated hostas, variegated English ivy, or variegated pittosporum.
Choose white flowering plants.
Enhance with lighting.
photo: John Mills
Outdoor lighting will finish off your night garden nicely. Lighting can be installed into your hardscape, but If you don’t want to install lighting, be creative! Use soup cans or old chandeliers to hold votive candles.
Hang Christmas lights along the bannister or railing of your deck to give a twinkle to the area.