Getting the most out of a landscape often involves focusing on the perfect lawn, beautiful flowerbeds, exotic plants and stonework. We devote a great deal of our energy to achieving both form and function, often at great expense, but what about when the Sun goes down? Do you just light up the areas of your garden you’ll occupy or do you go the extra mile and paint all that beautiful work with light?
Landscape lighting should always be approached with more than just utilitarian objectives in mind. As important as your grill and seating areas may be, they really are just functional. That beautiful shade tree or those ornamental plants deserve some after-hours love too, don’t they?
Using landscaping lights to bring out all that hard work at night does more than just call attention to your projects. It’s an entirely different world and mood after dark and you can use various lighting techniques to create a setting entirely unrealized during the day.
Moon-lighting, at least in terms of landscaping, isn’t about a spare job. It is the technique of mounting lights up in trees so that the light shines down through the branches. The resulting shadows and pool of light are absolutely magical, giving the tree and illuminated ground an enchanted forest look. Put a bench under the tree and you have a wonderful spot that entices guests to explore beyond the confines of your patio to chat in an intimate and inviting setting.
If your property is of sufficient size, use path lighting or tiki torches to invite guests to explore further into your garden. Guide them to your show plants, statuary and hidden nooks where they can chat (or cuddle) away from the crowd around the grill.
Speaking of statuary, any dramatic stonework or statue can benefit from up-lighting. Be careful to choose flattering lighting angles so as not to create a “Frankenstein” effect. For stonework or masonry, light plants so they cast dramatic shadows or angle the illumination to bring out the texture of the stone.
Finally, when placing any lighting don’t just pay attention to what you want to illuminate but also what you don’t want to illuminate. If your light spills over onto utilities, air conditioners, power lines and the like you’ll be calling attention to elements that only serve to destroy the mood you want to set. A tiki torch will rarely cause this problem as it will only cast light so far, but a low-voltage landscape light should be placed and aim as much with shadow in mind as light.
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