The Garden at Night
Alex and I spend the majority of our time outdoors in the backyard, which is why we focused all of our landscaping efforts for the first 3 years in our home on this space. Although the front yard is quite a bit larger, there is very little privacy. Additionally, our front yard faces a busy main road so it can be quite noisy.
On cool Summer and Fall evenings, you can find us cozied up in our adirondack chairs (I get the one with the foot rest!) with a fire blazing in front of us. We also enjoy entertaining around the firepit and will bring out additional seating for guests from our screened-in porch.
I decided to add the string lights for entirely practical reasons. Once the sun went down, there was little by way of light in the backyard. We have been meaning to add a motion light sensor to the garage but haven’t quite gotten around to it yet. The string lights have illuminated the backyard with a soft glow, perfect for chatting around the fire but not glaring bright enough to disturb our nearby neighbors.
I purchased the string lights from Target (linked here). I have now purchased six sets of these lights in total. They are very high quality and have yet to burn any bulbs out in the two years I have had them. We did have to replace a few bulbs last summer because the strands blew down during a severe wind/thunderstorm. After that, we zip-tied all of the connections together and have not had any problems since. I even left them up through the winter!
In early summer, we added the Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight (tree form)' to our landscape. I am absolutely thrilled that it is now blooming and looks spectacular. It mirrors the Little Lime Hydrangeas on the opposite side of the garden and ties the bright lime green color in throughout the garden.
As you can see, our Stained Glass hosta are now blooming. They SMELL SO GOOD. I make Alex go over and smell them everyday! These are the most deliciously fragrant hosta and have done wonderfully in our garden. I highly recommend adding a few to your landscape.
