Outdoor Garden Lighting Techniques -- Part 3

Hi and welcome back!

This is article number five in our omnibus on outdoor garden lighting, and part three of three in our section on lighting techniques. We are going to finish up our discussion of techniques with a look at lighting vistas, prospective lighting and the use of color -- my personal favorite.

Let's start with a discussion of vista lighting for those of us lucky enough to have a garden that looks out over water, I hillside or a dramatic view. Simply installing a some patio umbrella lighting will not do.

Your number one concern if you do have a beautiful view is to protect it. Picture the scene: it's a beautiful night are having a wonderful party with friends and family they would like to look from your deck out from your strategically placed home into the night and see the beautifully lit city below. However, they cannot because you have improperly placed your lighting fixtures. You have failed to control the brightness and the angle of the light avd they cannot see the view.

If this is your situation, I recommend that you do a little preventive maintenance by purchasing a number of inexpensive flashlights and bringing some lamps outside onto your deck. Set everything up in somewhat of an approximation of your final design and make sure that you are not going to overpower the most beautiful feature of your garden.

Getting the proper perspective

What were going to try to accomplish with prospective lighting is to draw the attention of the viewer to a particular axis of site. This axis could be a path or walkway; it could be a line of trees, or to be an actual view path that nature has created for us.

The point is, it is attractive enough to be highlighted. I do want to point out here that just because there is a path, or a line of plantings, or a hedgerow that does not mean it needs its own special lighting. Too often, we tend to highlight the manufactured features in our outdoor spaces.

The classic example of this is the long winding drive to an estate with a row of trees on either side. That might be okay by itself, but usually all you have surrounding the carefully planted lane is a vast expanse of boring, empty lawn. This is not the effect were going for.

Color me awesome! Using color in garden lighting.

A lot of us shy away from using color in our garden lighting. There is good reason for this -- color is powerful and used improperly can destroy the effect that you're trying to achieve with your outdoor or patio lights. You can use color properly however if you are careful and keep a few things in mind:

Colors are emotional things. Different colors make people feel different ways.

If you use a warm light source (read, orange, and yellow) people will feel at ease in the garden. A blue or green light to give a bit of a creepy effect but they will also make the garden feel larger and maybe even mysterious.

You also have to remember that the color of the light itself is only one aspect of the lights color. What I mean by this is that a pink rose illuminator with white light will appear to be a different color than that same plant illuminated with blue light. Also keep in mind that your plantings will change color and shape as we rotate through the seasons of the year. If you set up colored lighting with only springtime in mind, you may find that your garden looks odd indeed come September.

If you use regular old white light like that from an incandescent bulb or a standard florescent lighting fixture, you will find that most things look about like they do in normal sunlight. If you tilt towards the blue end of the spectrum, you find it your just look like zombies and your hors d'oeuvres seem to have come from outer space.

You should avoid red light except in special circumstances. When combined with green foliage it can make your garden look bleached out.

There are a lot of different ways you can create different colored lights. For warmer lighting use lower wattage lamps. If you want your light to tilt towards the white end of the spectrum, use lamps more in line with something that you would use indoors. If you do choose to mix lamp types in order to create different lighting effects and colors do so carefully. Use one particular type of fixture or lamp is your main lighting source and add others in order to create effects in different areas of your garden. You will find that the use of color in a variety of lamp and fixture types will work best in a large garden or outdoor space. In a small backyard, the effect can be chaotic.

You can also use specially tinted lamps and light covers to create the effect you desire. Another technique is simply to purchase sheets of differently colored plastic from an arts and crafts store and place those in front of your fixtures.

Whatever technique you use, use it sparingly and carefully. I would also recommend that for the first year you use something that is easy to change or modify. Because of the changing colors and shapes of your plantings throughout the growing year you'll find that the blue light that looked so attractive in fall makes your plants look like they're dying in springtime.

While we have reached the end of article 5 in our series on garden lighting, and part three of three in our sub series on lighting techniques. I hope I have given you some ideas that you didn't already have and that you join me for the rest of our series. Next up: look at the proper use of lighting for water features and swimming pools!