subject: 4 Invaluable Tips for Systematic and Effective Garden Lighting [print this page] 4 Invaluable Tips for Systematic and Effective Garden Lighting
The purpose of garden lighting is obviously to bring out the beauty of your finely manicured lawn at night. It is as if you were painting against a backdrop of black. The light is your brush and the natural color of the trees, flowers and shrubs is your palette. You have to daub light in combinations of colors that are available in your garden. To come up with an aesthetically pleasing garden lighting effect, you need a specific combination of hues to bring out an appealing ambiance.
Planning your palette
During the day, take time to list down the colors that are available for you in the garden. Then, using watercolor paint, simulate those colors on a paint tray. By applying the watercolor paint in different combinations on a white cardboard, you can eventually arrive at the color combination which, if combined with a black background, reproduces the ambiance that you have in mind for your garden. For the most part LED lights will suffice.
When identifying the color possibilities in your garden, take all objects into consideration. That means you will have to note the color of any rock arrangements that you have. Include the colors of the walls of the house fronting the lawn, as well as the color of the driveway.
Ambience lighting effect
For patches of color that need not stand out starkly, use accent lights. These are LED lights that are dimmer than other types. You will also need to find a spot where the light can be camouflaged. If you are accenting rocky terrain, you might want to use accent lights embedded in synthetic rock to forego the need for hiding it.
You may also use accent lighting to draw out slightly the color of foliage if you need greens in your garden lighting. Accent lights will also be necessary if you have places in the lawn that you need to remember, such as the water faucets. But for this purpose, the light should be so dim as not to be noticed except by you...unless of course, that portion of the lawn takes part in the aesthetics of the garden lights.
Use accent lights to draw the attention to any special portion of the garden that is not immediately visible from the lawn. For instance, you will need accent lighting to mark where your grotto is. Be sure and plant tall plants alongside your hidden grotto so that the accent lights will have something to brighten.
Focus lighting effect
The areas whose colors will need to stand out in the garden picture you are painting need to have focus lights. These are somewhat brighter than accent lights. Use white light, the better for the colors to be emphasized. If the area you are lighting is a row of flowers, strip lights will be more appropriate than single-bulb lights. Make sure the strip bulbs are LED or CFL (compact fluorescent lights). These are directional lights. They make it possible to confine the illumination to a certain spot or strip of your lawn.
The advantage of using solar-powered lights
In order to prevent electric wiring from criss-crossing your lawn, you should use solar lights whenever you can. The modern bulbs are capable of emitting more than sufficient illumination for your garden. And you won't need to worry about recharging the batteries if you place the lights in such a way that their solar panels enjoy the benefit of full sun when possible.
