While I’ve touched on the idea of decorative lighting previously, it’s worth talking more about lighting your landscape or garden in a more general sense.  With this in mind let’s look at why you should consider making it an integral part of any project along with a few practical tips.  

First to the why, if you’re like a lot of my clients and work long hours then you don’t  get a lot of daylight hours at home (hence the need for a retreat). So it makes sense to be able enjoy it when it suits you and on weekends with friends around or just on your own you can extend your enjoyment of your garden after the sun has gone down. In fact with good lighting you get to enjoy two landscapes from the one design a bit like a photo and its negative.

When considering the lighting needs for your project;

1) Plan to incorporate it into the construction phase, don’t think its something you can easily add later.  Apart from the fact that if it doesn’t happen now its unlikely to happen later, it can be difficult to retrofit an existing garden. 

3) Don’t buy cheap product, remember these are electrical lights that are being left outside to face the weather. If you use cheap product don’t expect it to last. Unfortunately the same goes for solar lights. With some rare exceptions these are also currently a waste of time. Look at low volt LED lights, too many advantages to list but they’re all we use now.

4) If you’re looking to design the lighting layout yourself, the key to remember is to show the effect and hide the source. Unlike decorative lighting, you don’t want to be able to see the source of the lights only the effect it has on the foliage, wall, lawn etc

5) Finally, please remember that spotlights are for sporting fields, car parks and industrial facilities not your garden.