Home & Outdoor Lighting » Landscape Lighting

Mood Lighting Your Landscape

Perry Latham — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:01:27 +0000

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.

Illuminating Tall Trees Can Create a Beautiful Landscape Lighting Effect

Perry Latham — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:01:28 +0000

Tall trees can dominate a large part of your landscape. They are stately, elaborate things that draw the eye immediately during the day. If you are thinking about installing garden lights, one of the best ways that you can start is by lighting up the tallest trees in your landscape. Up lighting brings out the size and stature of the tree and makes it look impressive against the night sky. Here are some tips on how to install lighting around your trees.

First, your should get the appropriate light fixtures. The most effective lights are usually outdoor flood lights and the amount you need depends on the size of your trees. Most trees will do well with one or two lights. Assemble the lights and place them on the stakes that you intend to use. Don’t place the lights on the tree itself. Screwing anything into your tree can seriously damage it or stunt its growth.

Once you have the lights attached to the stakes, place them evenly around the tree so that it has light coming up from all sides. Also make sure that the light is focused straight up at the canopy of the tree so that you get the best lighting effect possible.

Finally, decide how you are going to plug in the lights. You can attach the lights to a plug that is controlled by a switch. This will give you the most direct control over the lights and allow you to switch them off when they’re not in use and turn them on any time you like. A second popular option is to attach the lights to a timer and set the timer so that the lights switch on automatically at night. This wastes some power however, because the lights will be on sometimes when you aren’t at home. You also might have to reset the timer during the winter and summer nights depending on the amount of light in your area at those times of the year.

Solar Landscape Lighting Savings

Perry Latham — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:58:16 +0000

The energy efficiency and environmentally friendly aspects of solar landscape lighting has brought the fixtures into the limelight. Home improvement projects typically focus on fixing and upgrading interior parts of a home. Many times the exterior is forgotten with the exception of paint color and possible greenery. Proper outdoor lighting not only enhances the appeal and beauty of your home at night, it also promotes safe maneuvering around the areas of your home. Landscape lighting that is installed and positioned correctly can also increase the security of your home. A well lit property is less likely to be targeted by wrong doers because intruders are more likely to be noticed by neighbors or patrolling neighborhood watch personnel. Solar powered landscape lighting is easily installed and requires absolutely no maintenance unless one should happen to break.

Installation of ground solar landscape lights takes a few minutes because all you need to do is position them on the lawn or within your flower beds and gardens. Each fixture is equipped with a small solar panel that is in charge of absorbing the sun’s energy during daylight hours and turning that energy into electric power which operates the solar lights for about 12 hours each night. The most advantageous part of using solar or low voltage landscape lighting is the energy efficiency of each fixture. You can use as many fixtures as you like because they have little or no impact on your energy bill. The money you save with solar lighting could go toward purchasing more garden landscape supplies or more decorations. Low voltage lighting does require some wiring because the fixtures use a tiny amount of electrical energy to function. Another advantage to choosing solar landscape lights is that they can pretty much be installed any place with sunlight exposure.

Solar fixtures designed to be installed on structures like decks, patio umbrellas, fencing, walls, and even pool decks require a little more time for installation because they come with mounting brackets that need to be safely secured. Post, handing, post cap, recessed, flushed, and hanging lights are perfect for illuminating walkways, driveways, decks, patios, and entryways into your home. Each fixture has at least one method of installation. Fixtures with multiple options of installation are an especially wise investment because you can use the type of fixture in multiple places. The positioning of light beams should also be quite versatile allowing you to pinpoint the illumination to the areas that need it most. Solar lights offer a soft glow illumination which is perfect for landscape and garden lighting. Outdoor lights should not be too bright because that will cause blind spots or glare which can be unsafe for family and guests.