Landscape lighting is as much about safety as it is aesthetics. Fall is a great time to add some to your property- while you are planting bulbs and getting your gardens ready for winter why not go ahead have a layer of lighting added so you can enjoy your garden around the clock.
Most landscape lighting now is low-voltage (typically 12volt) unlike you standard household current that is 120volts. Because it is low-voltage you do have to have a transformer- to simplify it is a metal box with a whole bunch of stuff inside it that steps the power down from 120 to 12 volts. However, there are tremendous advantages to low-voltage. The most obvious is the energy saving, but also the fixtures are much smaller and cleaner, there is better control of the light output, it is far easier to install and far more options. Low-voltage lighting was originally invented in 1959, by William Locklin based on his principle of seeing the effect not the source, and today it is the most common type of landscape lighting or as he called it: night-scaping.
So here is my attempt to explain the basics to try and de-mystify it for you because landscape lighting can be very daunting. First you want to figure out what you want to accomplish, there are several basic principles that are a combination of safety effects and aesthetic effects.
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| step lighting |
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| Spread lighting |
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| Natural Copper small scale spread lights give a gentle glow of light while the finish will age and blend in with the surrounding landscaping. |
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| walkway |
The most common sense place to add light is to your walkway- help yourself and you guests know where to go by illuminating the desired traffic pattern. These fixture come in every size and shape and this is actually a great place to use a fixture that is decorative. Step lights are the other major safety area. These fixtures are installed in the step every few steps to wash down the steps to prevent your guests from tripping or falling. Spread lighting is great for illuminating garden beds but can also be used as path lighting to illuminate the path and surrounding beds.
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| Moon lighting |
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| The Moon Light effect results in warm realistic glow on the ground below |
When it comes to trees there are a few options I personally prefer Moon lighting- it is a combination of up and down lighting from within the tree. By lighting down the tree it is more natural and avoids the spooky look that sometimes results from shining up from the base of the tree. This is far more labor intensive to install however it is well worth it because it looks amazing.
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| Directional lights serve many purposes |
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| Silhouetting |
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| Shadowing |
Using a directional fixture you are able to achieve several effects. Silhouetting is an effect that results from placing a light behind a large bush or small tree (and looks best if it has a unique branch pattern) and lighting the wall of your home behind it. Using the contrast between the lit building and unlit plant it is visually stunning. The reverse effect is shadowing where the light is in front of the plant and it creates a shadow on the building thus illuminating the plant. You can use the same type of fixture to graze the surface of your home with light from below- this looks particularly amazing if there is a texture like stacked stone on the face of your home. Or flip it and wash the light down the face of your home by down lighting it.
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| Down lighting |
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| Grazing |
These are just some basic concepts that can then be elaborated upon. Once you have determined what you want to do and how many fixtures you need then the total wattage of the fixtures will dictate what size transformer you need. Transformers come in a variety of sizes and come very basic to with all the bells and whistles. Of course I am a fan of the bells and whistles... you can add a timer to your transformer and a photocell. I like to use the photocell so that they come on when it reaches a certain level of darkness and the timer to turn them off so that they do not burn all night long. A good electrician can also tie in a motion sensor so that they would come on when motion is detected (a great safety feature). All of these convenience options also help save energy.
Low-voltage systems use low-voltage wire (duh!) that gets buried just under the surface as opposed to down deep like 120 volt wire. With the main wire being easily accessible and safe to handle it allows for flexibility in placing and adjusting fixtures as your gardens mature and normal beatings from weather and animals (and kids).
Once you really get serious you can start playing with lenses in your fixture over the bulb. A honeycomb lens will help cut down on glare while spread lens can help widen the pool of light. A blue lens will great a more cool color and make evergreens pop. But mostly just remember that it is flexible, if you are not entirely satisfied low-voltage lighting is easy to tweak ( and in most instances it does require some minimal tweaking) and no matter what the safety aspects of adding the light will be instant.
photos: Hadco, Sea Gull Lighting, On Track
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