To make a garden sparkle for the holidays, turn on some lights. Twinkling lights capture the spirit of the season.

But don't overdo it. A garden has a mood all its own, and holiday decorations should enhance it, not overwhelm it.

''People take such pride in their front and back gardens during the summer -- it's a reflection of their style and point of view. Why wouldn't they do that during the holidays?'' says Jennifer Sypeck, who tracks trends for Smith and Hawken, the retail and mail-order garden decor specialists (www.smithandhaw ken.com).

Illuminated, blow-up snow globes, reindeer with blinking red noses and neighborhood supernova-style displays express tremendous enthusiasm but not much style. Tone it down, Sypeck says, and let your good taste and sensibilities show.

Garden shops capture the holiday mood with outdoor decorating products of all kinds, offering fresh new looks along with reinterpretations of traditional styles. Red and green are always great, Sypeck says, but look for new ways to put them to work.

At Smith and Hawken, a bright red Adirondack chair invites Santa to make himself at home on the porch. The chair will look terrific in summer, too, surrounded by pots of daisies.

Many garden shops sell fresh-cut greenery for wreaths and garlands. Customers like to fill flowerpots with evergreens to decorate their porches, patios and decks.

Bright stems of red-twig dogwood and holly branches loaded with berries add natural festive color to such arrangements, but nature gets some help from the garden-shop elves. Colorful flocked evergreen branches are popular.

Silver and gold paint and spray-on glitter make the arrangements sparkle like a special package under the tree. While you've got the paint can in your hand, try spraying interesting seed pods from the garden, magnolia leaves or rhododendron or viburnum branches, and combining them with greenery in pots or wreaths.

Shauna Dooley, manager of American Plant Food garden shop in Great Falls, Va., spray-paints big ruffled heads of potted ornamental cabbage and kale. She tried it as an experiment during the holidays last year, and strong customer demand kept her at it until Christmas.

Many garden shops now stock their winter shelves with wide assortments of holiday lights and help customers find new ways to light up their landscapes. Lights running along a curving front walk or over the top of an arbor bring out the structure and architecture of the garden.

Try some in the backyard, too. A string of lights on the garden gate, over the door of a potting shed or spiraling around the boxwoods at the corners of the herb garden will enliven the nights.

Smith and Hawken and other garden shops sell rustic grapevine globes covered with tiny lights that can be rolled out onto the lawn, hung from a branch or parked beside the front door to guide guests' steps.

Oversized grapevine snowflakes and stars will glow from the back fence or above a window or door. Battery-operated strings of lights let you place these decorations wherever you like and move them around to change the effect.

White lights remain the most popular, but red and green and multicolored strings of lights are also much in demand. Younger customers seem to like fruity colors.

'Tis the season of jolly new ideas, too.

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