Creating a Magical Garden: Must-Know Garden Lighting Secrets

Who doesn’t love those long summer evenings?

The smokey aroma of BBQs in the air. Your favourite drink in-hand. The cheerful company of family and friends. This is what us Brits wait all year for.

By now, you’re probably picturing your perfect summer evening – so have a think, what kind of garden completes that scene?

More than likely, it’s a space with truly magical lighting. A warm, inviting glow cast over the entire space. Focused spike lights bringing life to plants, landscape and architecture. Sleek guide lights lined elegantly along your path or driveway. You might also picture some charming wall lights or lanterns setting the scene for parties and romantic dinners.

However your dream garden looks, the point is… you can’t achieve that perfect summer evening without the right garden lighting design.

That’s why, in this post, we’ll be revealing absolutely everything you need to know about lighting up your garden this summer. So if you’ve ever felt something’s been missing from your outdoor space, or you just want to experience more of those memorable summer evenings, then you’re in the right place!

Why You Need Garden Lighting

If you’re still not convinced you need better lighting to enjoy your summer evenings, let’s dive deeper. Firstly, garden lighting serves two main purposes: aesthetics and functionality. For you practical people out there, let’s start with the functional side.

Improving Visibility

Garden lighting can improve safety dramatically. Take guide lights for example. Lining lights along your pathways and steps provides some much needed illumination, preventing potentially nasty slips and injuries. Additionally, driveways lined with bollard, post, or spike lights can be very helpful in reducing driver-related errors, allowing visitors to easily navigate your home’s entrance without damaging their vehicle, or more importantly, your property!

Reducing Crime

As well as providing essential visibility, garden lighting can be highly valuable for security purposes. PIR lights (motion sensor) in particular are excellent for deterring intruders or unwanted animal visitors. And this isn’t just hypothetical. One research paper actually found a 36% decline in crimes when outdoor lighting was installed throughout public housing communities in New York – a massive safety increase!

Increasing Property Value

In addition to increasing safety, outdoor lighting can have a significant impact on your home’s value and overall appeal to buyers. In fact, a recent survey found that homes with at least one security feature (including motion sensors), were found to be worth almost £30 more per square foot than those without any security features. Considering the average square feet of a UK home is just over 900, that means you could potentially boost your property’s value by around £27,000 – just by adding some security lighting!

On top of this, a 2021 study by the National Association of Home Builders revealed that exterior lighting was viewed as essential or desirable by a vast 87% of buyers. Talk about curb-appeal!

Instagram-Worthy Aesthetics

Now we’ve covered the several practical benefits of quality garden lighting, let’s get onto the main reason most homeowners even consider garden lighting in the first place – aesthetics. After all, what’s the point of spending time in a garden where you don’t even enjoy the view.

Not only does visually appealing lighting make for a more inviting garden environment, but it brings life to all of your outdoor features. With the right lighting, you can showcase the true beauty of your garden’s landscape and architecture – elements that might otherwise fade into the background once the sun goes down. Without proper illumination, you’re missing out on highlighting the very details that give your outdoor space its unique charm and character. And let’s be honest, that’s a lot of wasted potential!

Must-Know Tips for Garden Lighting Design

By this point, you’re hopefully brimming full of motivation and ready to dash straight to your local hardware store and browse all the garden lighting they have to offer. And that’s amazing, you’ve officially seen the light! (pardon the pun). But, before you sprint to the store, there are several tips you must hear before embarking on your outdoor transformation.

1. Layer Your Lighting

If you’ve seen any of our recent blog or social posts, you’ll know that we’re big fans of layered lighting. If you haven’t heard of it – let us explain.

Layered lighting involves the use of all 3 of the core lighting types: ambient, task, and accent lighting. Bringing all these types together will result in a visually stunning space that’s both functional AND aesthetic. Layered lighting is a go-to strategy frequently recommended by expert interior designers, and features in many of the most impressive spaces ever designed.

Here is an overview of each of the 3 core lighting types and how to add them to your garden lighting design:

Ambient Lighting

This forms the foundation of your lighting design, with the majority of your garden illumination coming from ambient sources. Characterised by a soft, diffused glow, it’s typically produced by fixtures such as wall & porch lights, outdoor strip lights, or even bollard & post lights if you’re looking for some extra security.

Task Lighting

As it says in the name – task lighting provides bright, focused light for activities such as cooking, cleaning or working. In terms of the garden, this could provide essential visibility for tasks such as cooking on the BBQ, quiet evening reading, or simply navigating around your property. Typical forms of outdoor task lighting include deck lights and guide & brick lights.

Accent Lighting

Now for the fun part. This is where you get to add some flair and character to your outdoor space. In garden lighting design, accent lighting is great for highlighting any landscape or architectural features that deserve attention. Additionally, it can be a perfect way to set the mood for an al fresco-style evening dinner.

Examples of outdoor accent lighting include:

• Buried uplighters for showcasing trees, shrubs, and architecture.
• Spike lights for drawing attention to flowerbeds and interesting plants.
• Table lanterns for creating a relaxing and cosy vibe.

2. Consider Power Source

Selecting the right power source for your outdoor lighting is crucial. This decision affects everything from energy costs and brightness all the way to ease of installation and long-term durability.

When choosing your power source, there are two main options to pick from: Mains/electric, or solar-powered. Below, we’ve listed the pros and cons of each power source to help you consider which option best suits your garden needs.

In general, choosing mains/electric as your primary power source is the best option all-round. However, solar lights are highly convenient and make garden lighting accessible for everyone. Additionally, if you’re in a pinch, and need some quick and easy garden lights, solar is definitely your best bet.

3. Make it Dimmable

When choosing garden lighting, particularly for your ambient and task lights, we highly recommend opting for dimmable options. This is because dimmers give you significantly more control and flexibility over your garden aesthetics.

Whether you need more visibility for a lively party, or subtle mood lighting for a romantic dinner, dimmable lights will let you adjust the brightness to suit any occasion. As well as giving you more control over aesthetics, dimmable lights can also ensure that light pollution is reduced for both neighbours and wildlife – a win-win for everyone.

4. Warm Tones

Colour temperature is a topic that we frequently talk about on this blog. The reason for this being that it’s vitally important for the visual appeal of your lighting design. Typically, for aesthetic purposes, warm tones are preferred as they’re perceived as more inviting and evoke a general sense of relaxation.

If you’re wondering which colour temperature you should choose for your garden – then the answer will almost always be warm white, ranging anywhere from 2700K-3500K on the Kelvin scale. Using lights in this range not only enhances the visual appeal of all garden features, but also minimises disturbance to both your neighbours and local wildlife.

5. Weather-resistant

It goes without saying that your outdoor lights need to be weather resistant. But the question is – what level of resistance does each category of lighting need?

As a rule of thumb, ALL of your outdoor lights must be a minimum of IP44 rated. Any lower than this, and they’ll quickly die.

Any wall or ceiling-mounted lights can afford to have an IP44 rating as they are less likely to be exposed to dirt or water. On the other hand, with fixtures that are close to the ground, such as spike lights for example, it’s recommended to opt for a minimum of IP65 rated.

Moving further up the scale, ground-based lights such as buried uplighters must have an IP rating of 67+ to protect against water immersion and soaking. Lastly, for pond or pool lights, you need lights with the ultimate level of protection – IP68 rated. This will allow them to be fully submerged in water for long periods of time without breaking.

Takeaway

Hopefully now, you feel prepared to get out there and start transforming your garden into the magical paradise you imagined at the start of reading this.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, start by adding just one new light to your outdoor space and take it from there. Remember – a single piece of garden lighting is better than none. As long as you remember our 5 must-know tips, it will be difficult to go wrong.

With that said, it’s time to start browsing. If you’re looking for a wide selection of outdoor lighting, we offer 100s of quality products across every category – all at unbeatable trade prices. So if you like to take immediate action, then be sure to check out our full outdoor range here.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you’ve been inspired to light up your garden, let us know – what ideas do you have for your outdoor space?