How to Use Garden Lighting for Style, Safety & Atmosphere
If you are planning on spending a lot of time in your garden this summer, then you need to invest in garden lighting. Garden lighting is an essential feature of landscape design, allowing you to prolong outdoor activities and enjoy the layout of your garden well into the evening.
As a premier landscaping company, Ideal Building & Landscapes understands the value of well-considered garden lighting. We offer a comprehensive design service, complete with decor supply and installation, to ensure our clients can enjoy every minute in their outdoor space.
With summer in full swing and plans for outdoor dining, entertainment, and family gatherings beginning to take shape, now is the ideal time to make changes to your landscape. In this post, we are sharing everything you need to know about garden lighting and how you can use it to improve your outdoor space this season.
Why Garden Lighting Matters More Than You Think
Garden design includes a vast array of items and installations, so it makes sense that lighting may fall to the wayside. When renovating your garden, you may be more preoccupied with the planting or the larger installations, such as paving, to consider lighting, but you are doing yourself a great disservice.
Garden lighting, despite the fact that it may not be your primary concern, offers a lot of benefits to landscape design and can play a key role in the appeal of your outdoor space. When used effectively, garden lighting can offer benefits such as:
- Aesthetic Appeal: Garden lighting is a great decorative tool that can keep your landscape attractive and appealing well into the evening. It can be used to highlight key elements of garden design and draw attention to garden zones or sculptures, even when the sun goes down.
- Safety and Security: Lighting is also an essential tool for the safety of your home and garden. By illuminating the garden and entry points, you can effectively deter criminal behaviour and keep track of who has access to your property after dark. It is also a great tool for the safety of your family and occupants, as it will illuminate stairs, pathways and other access points across the garden to prevent falls, trips or injury. This is useful for all households, but especially those with vulnerable people, such as children or the elderly.
- Functionality: Keeping your garden illuminated allows you to continue using the space even when the sun goes down, which is ideal during the summer months. You do not have to stop the party or bring the evening to an end because it gets dark, as garden lighting keeps the space visible and bright.
How To Use Garden Lighting For Style, Safety And Mood
There are various ways you can incorporate garden lighting across your landscape to offer these benefits and create a space you’ll love to be in at all hours of the day. No matter your garden design or the size of your landscape, lighting can be used to enhance the appeal, ensure safety, and set the tone for all occasions through the following methods:
Setting The Mood With Garden Lighting
Ambient lighting is a great tool for garden design and allows you to create a unique atmosphere for every summer event. The tone of garden lighting, as well as the shape and placement, can create a welcoming, engaging atmosphere that is suitable for entertaining or relaxing.
For example, warm-toned lights are ideal for seating areas and dining spaces across the garden because they create a welcoming, intimate mood. Cold-toned lights tend to be too harsh for these kinds of spaces and can make guests feel uncomfortable under harsh illumination.
A combination of lanterns, twinkle lights, and candles can be used to keep seating or dining areas illuminated while also ensuring everyone is comfortable. To make your garden more interesting and entertaining at night, consider coloured LEDs or fairy lights in bold primary shades, as these offer a festive feeling to the space. Alternatively, keep things classy with warm-toned bulbs or LED flames, allowing you to bask in the beauty of the night sky while also being able to make eye contact with your loved ones around you.
Zoning And Access With Strategic Lighting Design
One of the best methods for garden design is to separate the landscape into unique zones. This is particularly useful for small gardens or awkward-shaped landscapes, as it allows you to take advantage of the available space without clutter, but it can also be great for larger gardens.
Garden lighting can keep these zones cohesive and visible at all hours of the day with careful placement. For example, pathway lights such as small spotlights or LED spike lights along the garden path will keep your garden accessible by highlighting the main route even at night. Likewise, spotlights along decking or upstairs make it easy for guests to see where they need to go, and highlight the individual zones within your garden.
As we have mentioned, the tone of garden lighting can play a huge role in the mood, and this can be used to your advantage across your garden zones. Each zone can benefit from different kinds of lighting based on the atmosphere you want to create. Pathway lighting, which is used for access and safety, can be bright, cold-toned LEDs, whereas the lighting in seating or dining areas should be warmer for a more comfortable feeling.
Illuminate Statement Features With Lighting
Garden lighting, such as uplighting, spotlights, or even backlighting, is a great way to highlight the statement features across your landscape. This is particularly a great option for flower beds, structural plants, and trees, as lighting can ensure they remain a highlight in your garden even when the sun goes down.
Uplighting and backlighting are great ways to make your plant displays look different at night due to the way they create shadows. Trees can appear more structured and tall with strategic lighting placement, and you can create truly dramatic displays at night with a small amount of illumination.
Garden lighting is also a great way to bring attention to other elements of design, such as sculptures or water features. These are the focal points during the day and deserve just as much attention at night, which garden lighting can provide. If anything, these focal points will become more effective at night because of the dramatic displays lighting can provide, making it a great solution for structural and artistic landscapers.
Environmentally-Friendly Garden Lighting
As garden lighting is designed to be used outdoors, most of your options will be solar-powered. Solar-powered lights are some of the most popular for garden design and allow you to be both stylish and sustainable. These lights rely on a renewable energy resource, rather than mains power, and can automatically be triggered when the sun goes down.
Not only are these lights inexpensive to use, but they also allow you to have a low-maintenance garden that will automatically be illuminated.
LED lights are another popular option for garden illumination, while also allowing you to be sustainable. These light bulbs are designed to last a long time and offer better illumination than traditional bulbs. They do not need to be replaced as often, nor do they cost as much to power. If you are relying on mains power for your garden lighting, ensure that these are weather-resistant and durable outlets.
For low-maintenance garden lighting, you can use smart or timer plugs, which can be programmed to turn lighting on at the same time every day.
Conclusion
Garden lighting is a highly effective tool for both enhanced aesthetic appeal and functionality. With the right placement and design choices, you can create an inviting, safe environment for a range of outdoor activities. As the summer continues, spending time outdoors is more attractive, and lighting ensures you do not have to cut the party short.
Lighting can help you make the most out of your garden this season, alongside other landscaping services. Ideal Building & Landscapes is a professional landscaping company that offers garden design and installations to help you achieve your dream outdoor space.
We can recommend the best placement of garden lighting and features, as well as offer expert construction to maximise the potential of your outdoor space.
Contact Us Today
Are you ready to transform your garden? Contact the team today to learn more about our services or to request a consultation.
FAQs
Do I need an electrician to install garden lighting?
If you are using mains-powered lighting throughout your garden, it is recommended to work with a qualified electrician or landscaping contractor to ensure they are safe and effective. However, if you are using solar-powered or low-voltage plug-ins, then installation can be done independently.
How can I make garden lighting eco-friendly?
Opt for solar-powered and LED garden lighting to ensure your landscape is sustainable. Similarly, use motion-sensored lights or timer plugs to save energy by ensuring your garden is only illuminated when needed.
Is garden lighting expensive to run?
When relying on solar-powered garden lighting, you do not have to spend a penny to illuminate the space, as these lights get energy from the sun.
