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Garden Lighting

Garden lighting is a great way to add to the look and functionality of your whole outdoor area. It provides atmosphere for night time entertaining and increases the amount of time that you can comfortably spend outdoors, which is ideal in the warmer weather conditions. Garden lighting has come a long way from the traditional spotlight or wall lamp, with fairy lights, lanterns, uplights and downlights all being used to great effects. We’ve put together this short guide to help you get the most out of your garden lighting.

Design Tips

Also think about the placement of your lights. Pathways will need to be lit for safety reasons, but it makes sense to only light the parts of the garden that you will use or see at night. This will save you on your power costs.

You will also need different types of lights for different parts of your garden. Using different lights will create depth and add visual interest. For example, you could use uplights to light up a pathway while a low level spotlight highlights foliage or a tree.

You can also use different coloured lights to create effects. Yellow or red lights will add warmth to the garden. Green lights will enhance the colour of foliage. White or blue lights will create a cooler, fresher atmosphere.

Functionality

Fitting uplights into the deck or patio will give you soft but functional lighting at night. If you use the outdoor area for cooking, focusing spotlights on the barbecue area is a great way to ensure that you get the light that you need while keeping the glare off other parts of the garden.

Types of Lights

• Sensor Lights – are triggered when somebody walks through the area that is covered by the motion sensor. They are great for security and are energy efficient.
• Spotlights – should be used to illuminate a specific feature or area such as a statue or barbecue area
• Grazing Lighting – used to light objects (not features) such as a section of wall or water on a pond
• Spread Lighting – used mainly to light up circular patches of low plants
• Silhouette – involves placing a light behind an object so that the background is lit up and the foreground remains in darkness.
• Flood Lighting – using lights to create an effect that simulates daylight in a certain part of the garden (such as the entertainment area)
• Layered/Selective Lighting – lighting some parts of the garden and leaving other parts unlit.

There are also three main types of garden lights – electric, battery and solar. If you plan to use electric lighting you will need to take into consideration the cost of the lights, the length of wiring required, the brightness of the light and how many lights are required. If you are installing a lot of lights, professional help will be needed and you may need council approval. You also have the option of connecting electronic timing switches or motion sensors.

Battery lights are not as common as the other forms of lights due to the batteries needing to be replaced. However, they are great for things such as garden parties where you only need temporary lighting. As each light runs independently, they are able to placed anywhere in the garden without the need for cables to link them together. However, it is essential that the lights are waterproof.

Solar lights are the most energy efficient form of garden lighting. Solar lights can be placed anywhere in the garden and last for up to 12 hours when they are fully charged. They are easily moved and give a subtle lighting effect, as they tend to be less bright than electric lights.

Transformers and Switches

Using switches to automatically turn the lights on at dusk and off again at dawn saves unnecessary electricity usage and means that you can just leave the lights alone once they have been installed.

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