How to light up your life

FROM subtle, ambient lighting to contemporary LED effects, there are plenty of ways to illuminate all your green-fingered or DIY masterpieces. Solar powered and low-voltage ambient lighting offers you many affordable and creative ways to shed light on your front or back garden.

Pathways, terraces, ponds, statues, trees and shrubs all disappear under the cover of darkness, but come back to life when put under the spotlight. Garden lighting also has a practical side: it can help reduce the likelihood of burglaries, light up pathways in the dark winter months and extend the use of your outdoor entertaining areas on warm summer nights.

If you like to entertain in your garden on a summer evening or night, adding lighting in and around your decking or patio areas and along any paths enhances the appeal of your outdoor space and increases the safety aspect. You will use the space far more, especially if you invest in an outdoor patio heater, and you won’t have to worry about tripping your guests up in the process. If you are installing decking, consider adding LED lights to define the deck area and add extra interest at night.

Another important element of garden lighting is the added security it provides for both front and back gardens. Installing a mains-powered light using timers or sensors is regarded by police as an important deterrent to burglars. If you have a particularly impressive home, well-placed floodlighting can show off your asset at its best and increase its security.

The most decorative and fun to play with is feature lighting. This uses strong, directional light to highlight a garden’s best features, such as sculptural plants, feature statues or ponds and beautiful trees. Feature lighting is useful in adding depth and interest to a garden in the dark hours of the evening, but it does need to be properly wired into a power source, so you will require the services of a qualified electrician.

Ambient lighting offers a more subtle approach, but is equally decorative. This uses low-voltage lights, which can be purchased in kit form and can be easily installed yourself. These can also be solar powered or low voltage lighting, both of which is even more cost effective. The ambient effect can be striking with just a few well-placed lights.

Here are some useful tips when placing ambient and feature lighting in your garden.

Always conceal the light source with a glare guard on the bulb or by tucking it behind a shrub, large branch, wall or rock. Ideally, you will be unable to see where the exterior light originates.

For feature lighting, avoid installing garden lights in the undergrowth of low shrubs or tall grasses. The beam of light needs unimpeded passage from the fixture to the focal point so there are no distracting spots of reflected light. Remember shrubs grow, so allow some room for that.

Don’t over light: less is more. Overly bright garden lighting often has a garish, theatrical look instead of gently highlighting a garden’s best features.

Experiment with backlighting. Lighting trees in the background of a forested area creates silhouettes in the foreground. An up-lighted hedge behind a shrub or tree will do the same.

Don’t illuminate every surface. Shadows work to define lighted areas and help to create a sense of depth and space. Lanterns and candles can have a huge impact on a garden’s ambience.

When lighting a deck or patio area, pay particular attention to where people will sit to try to avoid glare.

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