Light up your garden at night

Our gardens are a refuge for us to spend time to relax in – why not stretch that time in the garden by lighting it up?

During the Victorian era, the moonlit garden was a popular theme and plants were specially selected for their moon-reflecting qualities. This would bring the garden to life at dusk when the brightly-coloured flowers would fade and make way for the variegated green and white, and silver- leafed plants, as well as lavender and roses, all of which reflect moonlight. Today we are blessed with electrical light and do not have to rely on the behaviour of the moon for a beautiful night garden.

The more you look into nightscaping your garden, the more you will realise how many different options there are to light up your garden at night. All the different techniques used can be implemented alone or combined to create the exact effect you want for your landscape. Here are the different forms of lighting techniques one can use:

Backlighting: When a plant is lit up from the back, it produces a silhouette that has a beautiful overall effect. Very often, if the plants are against a wall, and the wall is lit up, this will create this effect.

Downlighting: Downlighting is man's way of trying to copy the sun or the moon by spreading a beam of light evenly over the entire area. By installing a floodlight high up on a roof or in the branches of a high tree, you can almost recreate the effect of the moon.

Uplighting: Mounting the lights at the base of plants and trees will illuminate the trunk, as well as the upper branches of the tree, creating an almost magical aesthetic effect.

Path lighting: Path lighting can be a lot like runway lighting with evenly spaced lights, offering just enough brightness to light up the pathway.

Underwater lighting: This is one of the most dramatic forms of night light, as it shines up through the water to emphasise water features and the cascading water.

Security lighting: One cannot live in South Africa today and not have a battery of security lights installed around your property. These do nothing to enhance the beauty of your garden, but can light up entire areas if need be. Security lights are usually very powerful floodlights, set high up on the roof to cover the entrances, driveways and doors into the home. Most of them work on motion sensors, and only shine if movement is detected. As these are very bright, they use a lot of power and need not be on all the time.

Choosing the lights

When you go out shopping for your outdoor lights, make a list of what you are going to use each light for and where you intend to place it, so the people at the shop can help you to choose the correct lights. The best idea is to draw out a plan of your outdoor landscape and look to see what you would like to light up. Twelve-volt lighting is very popular as it can be bought in kit form and it is relatively inexpensive. If you have a path through rather dense foliage in your garden, then these can be put along the path in the bush to light your way without being too harsh. They usually come on poles with a sharp end on one side, so that they can be easily pushed into the soil. Another big plus with these lights is they have one transformer for all and only need to plugged in once and the entire string of lights up. If you have an available plug socket in your pool filter housing, it can be plugged in and you have instant night lighting.

Where to position the lights

The positioning of the lights is as important as the actual lights themselves – locations have to be carefully chosen in order to create the exact effect you desire. Take your time and get someone to help you with this important task. If you are installing floodlights to light up trees or large bushes, before going through the whole wiring process, connect the light to an extension cord first and switch it on. Then go and stand on the patio where you will be viewing the garden at night to ensure the light is in the correct place. Once you are satisfied with its position, then the fitting can be permanently installed.

Colours

Depending on your personal preferences, floodlights can be any colour you like. Different colours are often used to light up water features to create different moods. All the lights at the house doors and windows should have yellow globes fitted, as they do not attract insects as much as the bright white globes. Try to have the outdoor lights connected to as many light switches as possible so that each time you put on the garden lights the entire garden does not have to be lit up. This is just a waste of money and electricity. – Antonella Dési

Pictures

Images courtesy of
- Tirrex

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