Garden Lighting
Outdoor lighting has gone beyond a floodlight to get you from the front door to the car. Many new features, designs and options make garden lighting a decorative as well as a functional feature for your garden and your landscape as a whole. There are many different types of garden lighting to choose from.
Low Voltage Lighting
Low voltage garden lighting provides ample lighting without consuming mass amounts of electricity. Using a transformer that plugs into an existing outlet the voltage of the lights is reduced from the typical 110/120 to a mere 12 volts. This drastically reduces the power used.
Halogen and xenon bulbs both last longer and have a bright light; however the light fixtures for these bulbs are smaller. This type of lighting is usually associated with path lighting.
Path Lights
Path lights are important for safety around walkways and driveways and around any water features in your landscape, such as ponds or pools. Many path lighting sets are available in local hardware stores as DIY kits or through specialty lighting shops for more upscale path lights.
Path lights are basically very simple to install and while most do-it-yourself systems are solar powered and are simply pushed into the ground. These kits typically use rechargeable batteries and a small solar power cell that recharges the batteries.
Other path lighting kits are powered using low voltage transformers. If you decide on this for your garden lighting you might want a professional installation to help hide cords and wires.
Uplighting
If you desire your garden lighting to create a gentle glow rather than a bright illumination, you might consider Uplighting. Uplighting softly casts a glow upwards onto your home or into trees without the actual light source being seen.
This type lighting creates a focal point on the subject, such as a gazebo, garden, path or pond with a moonlight effect rather than a spot light effect. Uplighting can also be used as path lighting as long as there is enough uplights installed to illuminate the path.
Water Lights
Garden lighting is also available that is submersible in water. This feature allows you to add garden lighting to your ponds and pools. This lighting feature can add focus on a particular underwater object or just be used to cast reflection across the water.
Tiki Lighting
Tiki torches as garden lighting has become more popular in recent years. Tiki torches are typically powered by lamp oil and some also contain bug repellent for yard activities. Tiki torches come in a variety of materials from natural wood to metal that lasts for years. Tiki torches add a special touch to themed parties and gatherings.
Colored Lights
Garden lighting options are also available as colored lights. Add a brilliant blue hue to your pond or a subtle red to your garden statues. The availability of fiber optics and colored bulbs make adding colored lights as simple as changing the bulb.
Garden lighting is a feature for you landscape that goes beyond just lighting for safety purposes. Bringing your landscape to life at night adds dimension and character to your yards and allows you to bring the indoor gathering outside without being in the dark.
-Sharon V Chapman
Jun 05 2009
By Sharon Chapman
Creating a garden path light is important for safety reasons but it is also aesthetically enhancing to your home’s landscape. Visitors who come to your house can see to walk from their car to the front door using garden path lights.
Adding light to the garden path is a simple project that can be [...]
Jun 05 2009
Homeowner’s looking for ways to bring their landscape that special feel that makes enjoying the night at home a unique experience can create a garden of lights using any one or a mixture of the various lights available for garden use.
Before purchasing lights you should decide how you want your garden of lights to look. [...]
May 14 2009
(ARA) - Every year a wave of new products hits the shelves at lawn and garden stores, home improvement centers and online retailers. For 2008, a major trend is innovative outdoor lighting. Driving this trend toward creative outdoor lighting is the desire of homeowners to spend time outdoors and extend their outdoor time into the [...]
May 14 2009
(ARA) - Nothing says “summer” like outdoor entertaining. But if poor lighting means your outdoor activities end when the sun goes down, it may be time to brighten up.
From the front door to the backyard deck, lighting plays an important role in the beauty, usability and safety of your outdoor living space. Small changes in [...]
Apr 17 2009
All lawns and landscapes, from gardens, to natural spaces, even those that are pristinely manicured can be enhance with the addition of outdoor solar garden lights. These garden lights can bring more enjoyment to the home and garden by extending the amount of time you are able to spend outside.
Outdoor solar garden lights were at [...]
Apr 17 2009
If you haven’t heard about ‘going green’ you must be hiding under a bush. Radio ads, television commercials, even the local grocer is pushing going green, save our natural resources and use renewable energy. Why not transfer the green aspect to your outdoor lighting. Solar powered garden lights are the perfect choice for saving energy [...]
Apr 17 2009
No longer do homeowner’s wait for holidays to light up their landscape or gardens. The use of the outdoor garden light design has become as important a part of home design as the landscape itself. More and more homes are including the outdoor garden light in the beginning stages of home building.
How homeowner’s incorporate lighting [...]
Apr 04 2009
Outdoor garden lighting is the perfect way to extend the time you are able to enjoy your garden and all its delights. Some people would argue that adding artificial lighting to the garden area detracts from its natural beauty; however, using just the right amount of light in lower watts and adding a variety of [...]
Mar 28 2009
There are many benefits to having outdoor lighting included in your landscape and garden plans. Lighting your garden and yard has many benefits including safety, security and it is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
Traditionally, exterior lighting has been hard wired to an electrical source. This typically is not a cheap process as the electrical components [...]
Mar 16 2009
Designing your outdoor garden and landscape would not be complete without considering the outdoor garden lights. Adding lighting to your landscape and gardens transforms the outdoor space at dusk to a romantic or tropical paradise or any other mood you choose. There are many directions to take your garden lighting plan including those described here.
If [...]