Lighting Seen From The House
If you don’t go into the garden at night but want to be able to admire it from indoors or from the patio, you do not need to light the paths and can concentrate mainly on the picture from the windows.
Highlight decorative foliage, sculptures and garden furniture. You will probably find that individual branches you have not really noticed before will respond like magic to being lit at night and will become positively sculptural when individually highlighted.
Positioning Garden Lighting
A little lighting if well positioned can have a tremendous impact. Avoid dazzle and glare by keeping fittings and bulbs hidden. There are all sorts of places where you can do this, such as behind tree trunks or walls, or behind plant containers or large leaved shrubs. Try out their positions by placing lights temporarily and then walk around the garden to check that the light source is properly concealed from all angles.
Spike lamps are useful because they can be moved around but they should be regared as temporary only and not for permanent installation. The plug should be removed from its socket and the lamp taken into the house when not being used. As with all lamps, it is important to use the bulb recommended by the manufacturer or there may not be a watertight seal and the lamp might shatter.
How Much Lighting
For typical suburban gardens, one or two small floodlight fittings mounted on the back wall of the house will privide enought light for moving about safely and enable a patio area to be used for barbecues. However, much more can be done to highlight aspects of the garden plan or planting and make the garden more fascinating at night.
Focal points such as sculptures and fountains can look particularly effective when well lit. Remember, though, even when aiming for dramatic effects, subtlety is important. it is very easy to be over enthusiastic and overdo the lighting, ending up with something glaring and uncomfortable.
Lighting The Outdoor Room
Lighting is particularly important where the garden is small and designed to be used for entertaining in the evening, as well as for displaying the plants. Here you want not only to highlight plants seen from the sitting area, which may be at the far end of the garden but also to light the path leading to it. This lighting does not need to be as bright as daylight but bright enough to see where you are going, yet leaving the rest of the garden mysterious.
A collection of small candle-lit lamps can light up a table perfectly adequately, casting a becoming light on both objects and people. There are many different and attractive glass and perforated metal holders for candles and nightlights and the flickering of a live flame creates interesting moving shadows.
