Monday, May 17, 2010

Garden Lighting - 10 Great Ways to Illuminate Your Garden

For many people, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate amidst the beauty of plants and landscape of their garden is the ultimate bliss. But, without attractive garden lighting, you cannot capture that bliss. Lights arranged creatively and at the right spots make your garden a heavenly place to be after dusk.
Your garden gets grace through illumination. However, the trick is to use the right kind of lighting to transform your landscape into a dramatic place with dancing silhouettes and beautiful scenery. Things like glass oil lanterns add a dash of glitter to your garden during the day and make it shine radiantly during the night. The benefit of landscape lights is that it gives the pool, fountains, plants, and pathways a subtle glow, along with a shadowy charm.
Benefits
Garden lighting is one of the most important elements of your garden. And it not only enhances the beauty of your favorite place, but also makes it safer. A properly lit garden is easier to walk by, as you can clearly make out the pathways, steps, patios, and other elements of the garden during night. It also adds to the security of your home; thieves would not usually dare to enter a home that has a glowing garden. To make garden lighting absolute safe, you must use lights that are certified for outdoors use. This means that they are weather proof.
Ways To Light Up Your Garden
* Floodlighting involves a broad and bright light beam that illuminates a larger area. Although it is bright, it creates striking silhouettes that make your garden look inviting.
* Spotlighting is not used that commonly. Whenever used, it is used to light big plants, trees, large sculptures, and other architecture in the garden.
* Uplighting is a popular way to light up the garden trees, walls, and various statues.
* Downlighting is an imitation of natural light. The lightings are fixed overhead with the light falling directly from above.
* Moonlighting is used to render a dramatic effect to the garden. It is done by fixing lighting high above so that when the light falls, it produces a moonlit effect.
* Shadowing is a type of garden lighting that creates the most magical effect on a garden. It needs surfaces like lawns or walls or strong plants to place the fixtures.
* Accent lighting is done through small fixtures. They are fixed near the ground. They illuminate the garden in a subtle manner and are mostly used to decorate various garden spots.
* Spread lighting involves the use of wide beam angles. They illuminate big features of the garden such as the lawn, fountain area, flowerbeds, borders, patios, and others. Such lighting makes evening or night walks in the garden a pleasure.
* Cross lighting technique is used to highlight particular elements of a garden such as urn, statue, bonsai, archway, and others.
* Silhouette garden lighting outlines the trees, archways, and other elements creating a spectacular view.
So, gear up to light your garden. And yes, remember to use solar lights. They are the latest trend.
Garden Lighting enhances the look of your garden. Use different types of solar lights like Solar Garden Lamps to illuminate your garden.

Planning Outdoor Garden Lighting

Outdoor garden lighting can create a place of respite and beauty. It can turn a darkened backyard into an entertainment area or place to unwind after a long day. On the other hand, if proper planning of outdoor garden lighting is not implemented it can be an overpowering, glaring eyesore in the neighborhood.
Planning outdoor lighting requires taking into account many factors, such as what types of activities might occur outside after dark or how close the nearest neighbors are and how they will react to a brightly lit yard. Outdoor lighting affects more than just the home it is installed out, it also affects the neighborhood. Consider Christmas and those neighbors who tend to go overboard. Now imagine that same lighting year-round.
The first thing to remember when planning outdoor garden lighting designs is that there are many different watt light bulbs. A much softer effect can be garnered using many low voltage lights than can be had using high voltage, bright lights that are obnoxiously glaring.
Outdoor lighting is not meant to turn the darkness into daylight, rather it is mean to enhance the atmosphere and add enough light to maneuver and enjoy company. Lighting for the garden is a good place to practice the less is principal.
Another important aspect in planning outdoor lighting is determining where people will gather. For example, if there is a seating area, it is safe to assume that some type of lighting should be included in that area. Typically, down lighting is used in outdoor garden lighting plans. However, this does not have to be the case. Recessed lighting around the seating area or uplighting located in nearby shrubbery is other options.
Security lighting should not be overlooked during the planning process. Large lawns often have areas that are extremely dark when the sun goes down. Either these areas should have dusk to dawn light or a motion activated light in place so that would-be intruders find these areas less attractive. Path lighting for walking is another security aspect that should not be overlooked.
The best outdoor garden lighting plans are implemented using professionals who have taken every aspect of the home and homeowner into account during the design process. In the end, the lighting plan will be the beacon that brings friends together on warm summer nights.
Sharon V Chapman provides landscaping tips and information on outdoor garden lighting and garden lighting for Glow Gardens - your premier online guide to garden lighting.