Garden Lighting

It has been said that garden lighting offers designers an opportunity to paint with light. By illuminating water features, swimming pools, hot tubs, sculptures, trees and plants, professional garden designers can create a romantic backdrop or social gathering area by prolonging the evening's entertainment.

Landscape lighting will compliment your conservatory, summerhouse, patio, driveway and decking.

Additional benefits to outdoor illumination include year-round beauty in the garden, greater home security and increased safety.

Contemporary or traditional, garden lights are the final touches of class in landscape design.

Apart from the obvious safety aspect (using qualified electricians), consulting a professional landscaping company will ensure consideration is made to how plants mature. Knowing how the tree or shrub is going to develop over the years is essential when considering whether to illuminate it or not.

• Feature - for key features, such as specimen plants, statues, and trees.
• Ambience - low voltage lights usually available in kit form.
• Safety - creates awareness of steps, pathways and patio edges.
• Security - use of timers and sensors which light up when movement is detected.
• Flood - for display houses and large trees.

Lighting Effects

Down Lighting - spotlights mounted at height pointing down on seating and eating areas, barbecues, patios and driveways, or any area of the garden that requires highlighting.

Up Lighting - discreetly placed at ground level such as at the base of a tree to wash up the trunk or to illuminate a garden building.

Path & Step Lighting - to create interest and a desire to 'go and see' what is further down the trail.

Mirroring - where a mirror image is created on a pool of water; such as a reflection of a distinctive plant, tree or garden statue.

Washing - light at the base of a flower border, wall or hedge that 'washes' over the surface creating a soft glow effect.

Moonlighting - various sizes of spotlights that are placed in trees to shine down through leafy branches which creates an interesting shimmering shadow on the ground.

Orientation Lighting - for marking out your pathways, stairs and decking which tends to be mostly LED lighting.

Water Lighting - lights placed in the water which is enhanced by water movement, fish crossing the beam and reflections that can produce a natural mirror effect.

Crosslighting - the subject is lit from two sides highlighting and softening it at the same time.

Shadowing - lights placed in front of the object that is to be illuminated creating a shadow.

LED Garden Lighting

Light-Emitting Diodes or LEDs are a more energy efficient source of light compared to incandescent lamps. With LEDs using almost one tenth of the amount of energy than an incandescent lamp, LED running costs can be as little as £4 per year. These sustainable eco-friendly luminaries are designed with the environment in mind and have become increasingly available.

LED landscape lighting is available as spot lights, flood lights, rock lights, patio and deck lights and are available in a variety of sizes and colours.

They are easy to fit into regular deck boards that you walk over or into the side panels of the decking as well as the cross beams of pergolas.

LED lighting is also available as solar garden lights but the downside in general is that they are not controllable (i.e. you cannot turn the whole system on and off with a conveniently situated switch).

Click Projects below to view details

GLTGAL001 - Garden Lights Using Glass & Water Features