Secret Garden Update - How To Add Lighting Effects

We can now enjoy our new "secret garden" day or night.  All it took was the addition of some lighting and voila!  we are all set.  It is not hard to tell that the lights along the fence are just white Christmas lights, but that beautiful glow under the asparagus fern may be much harder to figure out.

This idea came from The Art of Doing Stuff.com.  She has some incredible ideas, and as we worked on the garden my mind kept going back to her lighting idea and I just knew we had to give it a try.  It is not expensive and is very easy to do.  What do you think makes that beautiful glow?  It's just white globes like you would put on a ceiling type light fixture with white Christmas lights stuffed inside.  

Now you get the picture!  How awesome is that?  They are like your own personal moon glow.  The original post from TADS suggested finding globes at flea markets or antique stores, but we just went to Home Depot and bought two different sized globes.  That was much simpler if you ask me.  They are not terribly expensive (under $20 for the two) and it was one stop shopping.  We had lots of white lights from Christmas, many in unopened boxes, so I used a strand of 35 for the small globe and a 50 strand for the bigger globe.  Just stuff them inside, connect them together by the plugs on the cord and attached to an outdoor extension cord.  Makes sure your lights are indoor/outdoor since they are on the ground!  This is something you can do in any garden space or even along a walkway.  It looks stunning at night!  Now, I want to sing "It must have been moon glow, way up in the blue......"

Since my last post about the "secret garden," I have added a few things.  First, we put down newspaper and wet it.  Did you know that makes a great weed barrier and you don't have to go buy anything special?  It really works.  Then, we covered the whole area with pea gravel to give it an more uniform look.  

Now, hopefully, there won't be much weeding to do.  Weeding is not one of my favorite tasks.  I wound lights through the fence and added a little sign I have had hanging in my garden for years and years.  I just hung it over the fence.  Easy peasey.

Now the cat is out of the bag.  You can tour my garden for a minimum fee of 5 cents!  Is that a major bargain or what?   

You will notice there are a couple of concrete plaques that I added to the wall behind the garden for interest.   Another thing I have had for eons.  I like to decorate outside just like inside.  We spend a lot of time on the deck and in the yard and it just makes everything more visually appealing and homey.

Everything is shaping up nicel.   I am sitting on the deck as I type this looking at my beautiful "secret garden."  I have done a lot of work out of doors the past couple of days, but it makes me so happy. Soon, it will just be summer maintenance only and lots of time to kick back and enjoy the fruits of our labor.  I love spring/summer when we get to that point, don't you?  

This is the garden at dusk.  It's so serene and peaceful (except for the loud music coming from the General Jackson not far from us on the river).   They will begin their cruise soon, so it will be nothing but the sounds of the birds and an owl who hoots now and then.  Oh, and I hear geese honking, now a woodpecker.  Talk about bliss.  

Wish you were here to enjoy one of these lovely summer evenings with us.  There is dessert and coffee (or your favorite beverage) on the deck, the sounds of nature and an occasional tug passing on the river.  Who can complain about that?  Life is  good and we are so very blessed.  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought."-   Wallace Stevens