Garden lights can make your garden really magical at night and can also provide a beautiful view in the evening from rooms in your home which look out onto your garden.

Nighttime lighting, of course, also extends the use of your patio and garden for entertaining and comes into its own when you just want to enjoy a fine evening outdoors.

Not only do you get the benefit of wonderful greenery during the day but your shrubs and trees also provide an atmospheric backdrop to your garden when lit at night.

Lights just outside your door make a great transition feature from indoors to outdoors - it's almost as if you are bringing the outside in.

Beautiful though garden lights are there are a number of Dos and Don'ts when it comes to garden lighting.

You can make your garden lighting more effective and stay safer by following these guidelines

• Employ a qualified electrician to add any permanent lighting to your garden. Damp gardens and electricity don't mix in unqualified hands.
• If you would like something really special employ the services of a garden or landscape designer to design your outdoor and garden lights. They will get the full potential from your garden - during the day - and at night
• Install a number of low-angled energy efficient low voltage garden lights at ground level for best effect. This is the best way to illuminate shrubs and create an interesting effect with the leaf shapes.
• When considering garden path lighting remember that paths look good with lights at regular intervals along them as if you are lighting the way from place to place.
• Highlight any special features with your outdoor garden lights. Plan your lighting so that you illuminate parts of your garden which will give the best effect and also the area around your patio where you are likely to be sitting. If you have a pond or pergola make a feature of it with garden lighting. If you have an outdoor fountain light up the water jet so that you see drops of water sparkling in the night.
• If you prefer not to run wires through your garden from your home, look into solar powered garden lights though you may find these don't work so well in winter and in shady areas which get little sun.
• You can also enjoy temporary garden lights in the form of candles and garden flares but do be careful if you have young children running about so that they don't get burned.
• For decorative garden lighting for a party you could use an extension cable and fairy lights in trees to create a great atmosphere. Make sure that people can't trip over the cable in the darkness.

You can kill the great effects of garden lighting in a number of ways. Here are things to avoid when planning lights for your garden. They should help keep you safer too

• Don't overdo the lighting. It is better to illuminate a few parts of your garden effectively than cast light everywhere and have the special effect of the lighting lost.
• Don't use security floodlights to shine on areas where you will be sitting enjoying a quiet drink on the patio. No one wants to feel like they are under interrogation from garden spot lights!
• Use enough lighting - 3 outdoor lights scattered around a huge area are not going to have much of an effect for either illumination or garden decoration
  
• Take care with any cables when using electric garden tools such as hedge-trimmers or lawn mowers.
• If you live in the countryside or far away from neighboring homes you can add as much lighting as you like to your garden (although subtle lighting is often more effective). However if the area you are lighting backs onto your neighbor's home you should keep things low-key to avoid annnoying them with Las Vegas style illuminations.

Garden lights are just as much a part of making a garden special as plants, outdoor furniture and patio cushions and with a bit of care they will add enormously to the pleasure you get from your garden or patio.

You can order garden lights over the internet from places like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to your front door. If you choose solar lights you could even have them installed in half an hour after they arrive.