Nightscaping, outdoor accent lighting, landscape lighting – there are lots of names for adding the right lighting to your garden so you can enjoy it no matter the time of day. As a landscape designer of 14 years, that’s what I want out of the gardens I design – sizzle both day and night. I want people to stop and notice my landscapes – even when it’s dark outside.
My flagstone paths are lit just enough to guide my guests safely from one garden room to another.
Photo Credit: Ann Nickerson, APLD
If it weren’t for nightlighting, I couldn’t enjoy my bronze children playing in a grove of ferns, birches and grasses.
Photo Credit: Ann Nickerson, APLD
Variegated sage and black-eyed Susans glow in the soft night light.
Photo Credit: Ann Nickerson, APLD
Uplighting this dancing figure creates drama in my garden.
Photo Credit: Ann Nickerson, APLD
Low-voltage nightlighting really serves two purposes. The first is safety. The rightlighting gives you a safe way to get around your garden in the dark so you don’t trip over a trellis or stumble into your Stella D’Oros. The second is to beautify your nighttime garden and transform it from a dark, shadowy area you might glimpse at to one of mystery and intrigue that lures you to gaze out your window and literally pulls you into your garden.
An important thing to remember is that good nightlighting doesn’t call attention to the fixtures. Instead, it draws your eye to the special features of the garden. Whether it’s uplighting, downlighting or lights that cast a gentle glow on paths and special plants, your garden can be brought to life at night. The key is choosing the proper lighting.
I should know. Many years ago I bought and installed an inexpensive lighting kit. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I had envisioned my inner garden being gorgeously lit up for parties and outdoor strolls. Unfortunately, all I got out of the box was seven glowing orbs. They weren’t even bright enough to cast a glow on the bark dust, and they drew my eye right to them. I lived with them for a few days – and then ripped them right out.
Since that fateful experiment, I’ve read books on lighting, attended seminars and even designed systems for clients, but I haven’t attempted to install one in my own garden yet. It’s been on my “wish list” for the past three gardens I’ve owned, but I’ve never really felt comfortable installing one myself. I knew that for me to do it right would take time, money and energy – three commodities that are hard to come by at the same time.
Once I decided my new display garden was just crying out for nightlighting, I finally resolved to do what I ask my clients to do all the time: hire a professional landscape contractor to design and install my lighting system. And am I ever glad I did! I couldn’t be happier with the results. It’s a joy to be in the house and look out at my various garden vignettes brought to life by light. And while I don’t get out year-round in our night garden (it rains here in Oregon about nine months a year), I love to look at the silhouette of the bare winter trees and see my statues glistening in the summer night.
While I chose not to take the time and energy to install my own system, I believe proficient do-it-yourselfers can do a good job of installing landscape lighting with the right time, energy and, of course, experience. Nightlight installers should know how to install irrigation systems and be comfortable around electricity. And before anyone tackles a lighting system, it’s important to research the subject and buy professional-grade products to get the best lighting effects.
So look around at your garden to see if lighting might be the answer to enjoying your yard no matter what time the hands on the clock say. Whether you’re making your garden safer to get around in or you’re uplighting a specimen planting or statue, the right lighting can help you love your garden even more – whatever time it is!
