Where to place landscape lighting?

Landscape lighting placement depends on the techniques utilized. During the day, the bright colors and deep greens may look dazzling in the natural sunlight, and when you home is perfectly landscaped with flowers, ornamental plants, and trees nestled throughout your property, the perfect finishing touch is some well-placement lighting.

Ensuring the beautiful yard you have cultivated is also visible for admiration at night is a good idea. You want to install landscape lighting in your outdoor space. It was a great choice, but now comes the tricky part, working out the best place to put your lights and what kind of lights you will need.

It depends on the kind of effect you are looking for, and there is a lot to think about. It's not easy to make your garden, patio, or driveway look better. There are a variety of lighting styles.

How To Start the Landscape Lighting Process?

Careful planning of where you want your lights to be is the first step in the installation of a landscape lighting system. Some features are more important to you, while others are less attractive when lit. Take into account the areas of your landscaping that you would like to highlight.

YOUR HOME:

Multi-story homes will likely require more lights than single-story homes. The angle of the lights changes from low to the ground to high above to highlight the architectural details.

SWIMMING POOLS & POOL CAGES:

Pool lighting helps to enhance their natural beauty and is very important for safety reasons.

TREES AND BUSHES:

Smaller bushes may only need a section of lighting for proper enhancement while trees with broad canopies need multiple lights.

PATIOS, DECKS, AND LANAIS:

It's a good idea to keep these areas well-lit to enjoy the nice weather.

FLOWER BEDS:

It's a great place for low voltage lights, which shines just enough light to enhance the flowers throughout the night.

FENCES AND PATHWAYS:

These areas need light to reveal a path or showcase a line of flowers along the wall.

LAWN DECORATIONS:

There are statues, flag poles, and birdbaths that can be highlighted and enhanced with the right lighting.

How to Place Landscape Lighting?

Landscape lighting isn't as simple as sticking a fixture in the ground and saying it's good. Instead, these lights should be placed at different distances and angles to meet your lighting goals. Some trees may require more than one fixture to provide enough lighting. There are a number of different ways you can utilize lighting.

WALL WASHING:

Place a light a few feet away from a feature and aim it sideways to create a glow that will reflect off of a wall or other surface. A wide angle flood light with low wattage is recommended for a more subtle effect.

Shadowing:

Shadowing is where you choose lights that are positioned in a way to cast shadows. Still, instead of silhouetting, you’re trying to use dramatic shadows cast on another surface. It’s a good idea if you have light-colored walls either around your garden or as part of your home and a tree that you can use to cast shadows onto the wall. Otherwise the shadows can get lost.

SILHOUETTING:

Silhouette lighting can be used to create a dramatic effect in your landscape. Begin by placing a spotlight behind the landscape feature, aiming it at a wall or fence behind it. The object will be silhouetted against a light colored background.

Depending on the amount of lighted surface area required to effectively silhouette the landscape feature, multiple fixtures may be necessary. planters, evergreen shrubs, and arbored trees are some of the dense subjects used in some of the most striking executions of silhouetting.

UP LIGHTING:

Depending on the subject being lit, a variety of fixtures are appropriate for up-lighting. This light can shadow, wash or silhouette, and it comes from below. This technique can be used to create a contrast of shadow and light for different depths of a structure's wall, creating a stately and majestic appearance.

DOWN LIGHTING:

Attach lighting to a tree or structure and aim it down. The results may vary depending on what light is attached to The structure of the house is highlighted under the eaves with fixture attached to it. The illuminated area at the base of the structure is created by down-lighting.

MOONLIGHTING:

It's true to its name that it creates a glow similar to moonlight. Light can be placed high inside the foliage of a tree to create mellowing. Shadows on the ground and a soft glow from within are made by the lighting within a tree's branches.

ACCENT LIGHTING:

Any lighting that draws attention to something is considered accent lighting. In order to point out an architectural design, plant, or other feature, down-lighting or up-lighting can be used.

PATH LIGHTING:

Even though you want your paths to be safe, you can still guide them with a sense of romance or intriguing adventure. It's a good idea to consider risks like being kicked by a mower or being struck by a mower when placing a fixture along a walkway or path. There are a variety of lighting techniques that can be used to illuminate a path.

Tips for DIY Landscape Lighting Installation

If you are considering trying to do landscape lighting yourself, here are some quick tips to keep you on the right track.

• Have all light locations planned and mapped out before you start digging.
  
• Make sure no lights are going to be pointing into windows on either your home or your neighbor’s homes.
  
• Bury all wiring at least 6” deep.
  
• Buy quality materials, including light fixtures and bulbs, for maximum performance and longevity.
  
• Waterproof all connections.
  
• Use a level to ensure lights are straight.
  

Conclusion:

How you light your garden will be determined by your features. If you are going to spend time in any of the spaces, your priority is to illuminate them. If you want the rest of your garden to be noteworthy, you should focus on noteworthy areas.

If you are careful about how you light the trees, shrubs, and pools, they will look great. Just make sure to always illuminate the entirety of a feature.

Whether that’s by choosing a wider-angled and brighter light or using more than one for particularly big elements like a tree, it looks much better than just seeing a trunk or ugly shadows on your fountain.