Use Garden Lights Effectively

<–CLICK HERE to listen to article

One of the best ways to determine which types of garden lights to buy is to decide why you want to light your garden. If you’re looking for a way to see the path through the middle of it, then choose something like solar garden lights that you simply stake into the ground along a walkway. If you want to keep the entire area well-lit at night for security purposes, a dusk-to-dawn light or a motion-detector lamp are options. But if you’re looking for accent lighting and a way to make your garden more beautiful at night, you’ll want small lights that blend in during the day and set just the right tone after the sun goes down. If your looking to light up larger areas of your garden, you may want to use lights with higher wattage bulbs like a gooseneck outdoor light which is always a beautifully rustic addition to any garden or pathway

Three Popular Types of Garden Lights

If you’re looking for accent lighting to draw attention to beautiful features within your garden, then one of these three popular styles may fit the bill:

• Up lights
• Spotlights
• Accent or ambient lights

In addition to things like security lighting or walkway lights, these three types of lighting can help turn your garden into an after-dark showcase. And it’s easy to determine which type of light to use where, just by looking at the layout of your garden.

Up lights are small lights that sit on the ground, or are more often recessed into the ground so that they don’t show during the daytime. They send a beam of light straight up or sometimes at an angle. This creates a dramatic effect when used at the base of a tree, a shaped hedge, a garden sculpture or any feature you want to draw attention to.

Spotlights draw even more attention to a feature. This type of garden light is usually mounted on the ground or a wall to aim a focused beam of light at a particular part of your garden. By changing the brightness of the bulb you can make a certain feature more prominent or you can make it the focal point of the entire outdoor space.

Accent and ambient lighting is usually more subtle. This is usually a soft light or a colored light, depending on the mood you want to set. This category encompasses just about all types of garden lights that don’t clearly fall into the other categories. Hanging lanterns, colored lights around flowerbeds or to cast shadows, and things like lights that softly glow down through tree branches and walkway lighting for your garden paths all types of accent lighting that can make a garden even more beautiful.

A Note about Solar Garden Lights

Solar powered garden lights are a popular option because they don’t require any type of wiring installation and are easy for anyone to set up. The biggest drawback to a solar garden light is that if you don’t have it installed in a place that gets plenty of full sun during the day, it might not glow as long as you would like. Long winding paths and walkways in your gardens can also be a perfect place for solar walkway lights, where running electrical wiring would be prohibitive. Please keep in mind to use these types of lights always with safety in mind.