Whether you want to create a romantic, rustic or contemporary feel in your garden, there is a wide variety of lighting available to suit your needs. From focus spotlights to solar powered lanterns, the choice is endless. However, before making a purchase it is important to consider your needs and requirements for your garden light. The first step is to determine what you wish your light to achieve – this could be anything from creating a shadow effect through to up-lighting or cross-lighting a specific feature. It is also important to consider the color temperature and brightness of the fixture. Warmer light, around 3,000 K, creates a cosy atmosphere while cool white offers a more modern and crisp feeling.
The periphery of the garden is another area that can be highlighted with lighting. This is useful for delineating walkways and ensuring that people can see their way, but can also be used to highlight garden seating areas like this example from My 100 Year Old Home. Here the use of string lights is a clever and stylish solution, helping to set a relaxed mood for an outdoor dinner.
Up-lighting and down-lighting are also common techniques for highlighting particular features. The up-lighting technique creates bold shadows against a backdrop, whereas down-lighting highlights the shape of a plant and illuminates its branches and leaves. Another lighting method that is used to great effect is cross-lighting, which shows off both sides of a hardscape or softscape feature. This can be particularly effective with non-uniform shaped plants and really helps to bring them to life at night.