Outdoor Lighting

Outdoor lighting not only increases security and safety, it also extends your enjoyment of the garden – and your new home’s exterior – into the twilight hours. Melanie Griffiths explains the different types of lighting available for gardens.

Outdoor lighting is becoming – more so than ever – an essential element of a home’s exterior and garden design. Serving invaluable functionality in enhancing security and safety, it is also perfect for high­lighting the most attractive features of your home and garden — accentuating flowerbeds, water features, a nicely shaped tree or statuary.
Firstly, decide what you want to achieve with your lighting. Is it purely for security? Are you trying to subtly highlight architectural features and plants? Or are you going all out with a cool contemporary lighting scheme? What is your budget? Whilst some modest lights will set you back a few hundred pounds, an extensive decorative lighting scheme will cost thousands in fittings and design — and you will almost certainly need to consult a lighting professional.

Fixtures

Whether the fixtures subtly blend in with the rest of the exterior or are features in their own right, one thing for sure is that they should be in keeping with the overall external design. If the style is traditional, such as Victorian, wall-hung lanterns are a good choice, but other lighting sources should be hidden. There is more scope to make features of the fittings in contemporary designs; almost any­thing goes with fittings that look like pieces or art or even rocks!
Be careful your fixings won’t cause any light pollution — you don’t want to light up your neighbour’s garden or upset the surrounding wildlife. Choose low-voltage shielded fixtures which avoid glare and only focus lighting where it is needed.

Lighting Techniques There are more lighting techniques for gardens than you probably ever imagined.

Uplighting	A useful technique for lighting up pergolas and canopies of branches, which in turn reflect the light back down, using fixtures from sources on the ground or recessed low on a wall that light upwards.
Downlighting	Lighting placed above eye level, high on walls, roofs or in trees. It is useful for illuminating large areas.
Spotlighting	Picks out and highlights individual features, such as sculptures, trees or water features. Use sparingly and conceal the fixtures with shrubbery.
Crosslighting	When spotlights are positioned on more than one side of an object, revealing greater detail and more subtle shadows.
Silhouetting	Creates very dramatic effects. Lighting placed behind and below a large feature will create a striking silhouette and is particularly effective when used on trees with unusual branches.
Shadowing	When recessed lighting is placed in front of an object to cast shadows which are often larger and more dramatic than the object in question.
Paths, steps and decks	These can be illuminated in two ways. The first is to hide lighting in nearby shrubbery and flowerbeds to light up the surfaces, the second is to place walk-over lights inset into the surface itself. Both methods ensure that hard-to-navigate areas are safe to walk around at night. Hiding lights under steps and handrails also gives a low subtle glow.
Moonlighting	Create the romantic effect of moonlight filtering through trees cast­ing soft subtle light (often through blue lenses) across the garden by using low-voltage down­lighters placed in the trees.
Spread lighting	Lights up large ground areas like lawns, flowerbeds and shrubs by creating circular spreads of light.
Water lighting	This can be very effectively used to light up ponds and swimming pools by installing underwater lights via special fixtures anchored to the bottom of the pond/pool to shine upwards — or by using floating lights. It also looks great with fountains. Moving water sparkles when lit and still water gleams with reflections, creating a tranquil effect.

 

Power Sources

Outdoor lighting can be run from a mains supply, however, most good garden lighting operates at a low voltage (12v) and is also the safest option for garden lighting and available in a wide variety of fixings. You will require at least one transformer to convert the mains voltage to 12v, which can be located either outside in a weatherproof box or indoors. Flexible low-voltage cable connects the trans­former to the lighting, though the cable loses voltage according to its length and the quantity of lights connected to it. Keep the cable runs short and don’t add too many lights to one run. Low-voltage wires can be moved around easily because they are buried only a few inches under­ground. You will need a qualified electrician to undertake any electrical installation.
It is possible to install solar powered lighting, where during the day a PV (photo­voltaic) panel generates electricity and stores it in a battery. Solar powered lights are a viable alternative if you don’t want to run a power line through your site or are very far from a utility grid, however the light may not be as bright as with electric powered lights and suffers in cloudy climates.