Lighting your Garden

If you’re thinking of lighting your garden consider two things firstly there is the health and safety issue; can you actually get down steps or along your path and to a front door? Can you insert the keys in the lock without cursing that you can’t see a thing? Do you need lights for security reasons?

Once you’ve considered the functional aspects there is the aesthetics of lights.  At this time of year lighting can really bring a little warmth and emphasises st   ructure from lighting the path to focusing on key features. So whilst you may not want to sit out and enjoy your garden in mid winter you can still admire aspects of it and then in the summer you get to sit out and enjoy it.

Up-lighting trees is a beautiful feature, emphasizing the shape and texture in the winter where their branches reach into the darkness and in the summer evening it highlights the leaves gently dancing in the breeze.  If you want to see a fantastic display of illuminated trees prior to Christmas visit Westonbirt Arboretum if you live near by.

Spot lighting some small shubs such as Cornus with it’s bold red or yellow stems adds some colour to the garden or focusing on  statues where you can either throw light on the item or place the lighting behind it giving intrigue.

Lighting can give a magical element to the garden and enable you to focus on a particular object, in one garden we’ve used LED lights behind a water feature enabling it to float along the patio in the evening, where in the daylight it is a bold stone trough.

So now is the time to have a look at your garden, what would you like to see illuminated at this time of year?  If you were looking out of your window what would you like to see?