Jennifer Aniston's Japanese winter garden has been beautifully lit for Christmas – but you can actually decorate this way all year round

Decorating your backyard for the holiday season is a must if you live in warmer climates – particularly if you like to take your hosting alfresco over Christmas and New Year.

Lighting your garden is surprisingly similar to lighting your home: you need to achieve the perfect balance of practical designs – which provide illumination and ensure safety – and decorative – which highlight architectural features and create a truly welcoming atmosphere for evenings spent alfresco.

Actress Jennifer Aniston's Bel Air home with a spectacular Japanese garden, designed by Marcello Villano, gets the seasonally lit spectacle just right this year.

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Backyard lighting ideas can transform a dark and uninviting outdoor space into an extension of your home's living areas at night time. Follow in Jennifer Aniston's footsteps to bring the backyard to life so you have a magical view to look out over on dark winter evenings.

'Lighting around your garden is essential to ensure that you don’t just enjoy your garden during the day but in the evenings too,' says Brian Davenport, owner and co-founder of The Solar Centre. 'One of the most important things to keep in mind is that you don't want to overwhelm the garden with too many lights.'

You can use intricate outdoor lighting ideas to showcase garden buildings, such as summerhouses, pergolas, and arches, or replicate Aniston's space by making a decorative feature of trees, shrubs, and bushes.

Trees provide essential architectural structure in the garden, bringing height and balance to a planting scheme; however, this magic is lost when the sun sets. Instead, continue the effect into the evening by entwining fairy lights around the trunks to add depth and interest.

Choose a tree that will create a natural focal point in your outdoor space; one with an interesting form or an elegant arrangement of branches. Use rope lights or fairy-light strings to wrap around the trunk of the tree, continuing onto the most prominent branches. Space strings evenly for a uniform look. Your garden is a carefully curated space, and therefore it must look as beautiful during the day as it does at night.

Finally, when selecting lights for the front of your home, it is best to opt for lighting that works on a sensor or a timer. By selecting lights that operate intermittently you will still get the benefits of outdoor lighting ideas but it will not disturb neighbors or waste energy when they are not in use. Solar outdoor lighting will save energy, too.