The Artful Garden: Enchanting Lighting
Conjure up magic outdoors with strategically placed solar lanterns, twinkle lights and chandeliers
Laura Gaskill
August 22, 2017
Houzz Contributor. I cover decorating ideas, Houzz tours & the monthly home maintenance checklist. My favorite pieces to write center around the emotional aspects of home and savoring life's simple pleasures. Decluttering course + discount for Houzzers: https://www.lauragaskill.com/welcome-houzzers
Houzz Contributor. I cover decorating ideas, Houzz tours & the monthly home maintenance... More
When you’ve put a lot of work into your garden, it’s a shame to let the beauty vanish as the sun goes down — especially since adding the right touch of lighting to your landscape can have a positively magical effect. The twinkle and glow of lights beckon us into the garden, making outdoor gatherings more festive and cozy. Here are nine ideas for enhancing and highlighting your favorite corners of the garden with light.
1. Mix and match lanterns. A mature tree bedecked with glowing lanterns in an assortment of sizes and shapes creates a majestic focal point in this backyard. A hammock and swing strung from its branches give kids and adults alike good reason to get out there and enjoy the glow.
Tip: If you want to hang electric lights from a tree in your yard, you’ll need to hire an electrician to safely install them. Don’t want the hassle (or cost) of installing electric lighting? Solar-powered lanterns can be a good alternative.
Tip: If you want to hang electric lights from a tree in your yard, you’ll need to hire an electrician to safely install them. Don’t want the hassle (or cost) of installing electric lighting? Solar-powered lanterns can be a good alternative.
2. Arbor of light. An arbor, with or without plants growing overhead, is a lovely feature — play it up at night by stringing it with fairy lights. The soft glow provides just the right amount of illumination to make an outdoor gathering feel cozy.
Find string lights
Find string lights
3. Submerged lighting. If you’ve invested in a water feature for your garden, such as a pond, waterfall or stream, help it shine after the sun goes down with submerged lighting. The glow of light under burbling water creates a magical effect, softly illuminating the landscape. Lighting designed for water features should be installed by a pro.
4. Illuminated fountain. Submerged lighting is not the only way to shine a light on water features. Highlight a beautiful fountain by positioning landscape lighting nearby and pointing the glow in the right direction. Just remember, less is more: Think softly glowing lamp and not glaring spotlight.
5. Outdoor chandelier. What could be more romantic than sitting down to dinner in your own private garden, lit by the glow of a chandelier? If you’re willing to invest in outdoor wiring, a chandelier hung over an outdoor dining table is certainly worth the splurge. If you go for it, be sure to have a dimmer switch installed so you can control the ambiance.
6. A lighted allee of trees. On a larger property, a path lined with trees makes an elegant way to progress from one point to another in the garden or to light the path to your front door. Encourage enchanted evening walks with uplights positioned at the base of the trees, plus landscape lighting on stakes to light up the path.
7. Softly lit path. For a more subtle glow, skip the uplighting and rely instead on softly lit orbs, or solar stake lights. Lighting like this works beautifully along outdoor stairs, stepping stones and gravel paths.
Browse solar-powered lights
Browse solar-powered lights
8. Magic treehouse. Have a treehouse or playhouse in the backyard for the kids? Consider lighting it to extend play time as the days shorten in the fall. This fantastical treehouse in Colorado even has a sleeping loft, which is sure to appeal just as much to the grownups as the kids.
Tour the rest of this dream treehouse
Tour the rest of this dream treehouse
9. Candlelight. Candles are so simple and flexible — you can put them anywhere, and you don’t need to worry about wiring. Best for casting a soft glow around a table or small seating area, look for candleholders or hurricane lanterns that will protect the flame from blowing out in a breeze and don’t be shy about using a lot.
Tell us: How do you illuminate your garden? Share a photo in the Comments!
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Light Your Landscape for Drama and Function
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Tell us: How do you illuminate your garden? Share a photo in the Comments!
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Light Your Landscape for Drama and Function
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I like the flexibility of solar lights, which come in a wide assortment of colours and shapes so that you can really work with them in matching your theme. The problem is that they are also lit up when you are not using the outdoor space for entertaining. They destroy the visibility of the views, which is why many people live in rural settings, to be part of the natural surroundings they are stewards of. In this case the stars, planets. They also play havoc with birds, insects etc, of which we are losing too many each year to extinction due to our invading all spaces. We want to live in 'natural' settings, then want to bring all city emminities with us. In my area we have been fortunate to constantly vote down street lights, which would ruin our enjoyment of the natural darkness. However new people moved to the area 2 yrs ago & they think Christmas lights and lots of ugly wires and blowup plastic things all over their yards should be out from Nov to May and 24/7. They don't seem to notice that that is not the tone of the community which they chose to move to.
That is some beautiful and magical lighting!
We're located in Massachusetts and lighting helps us to extend the use of our landscapes into the dark of night while also allowing the opportunity to highlight points that might not be focused on during daylight.
Here are some pictures from one of our projects:
Wonderful ideas - ! However, many of us have overly-bright street lighting installed by our municipalities, and neighbors who believe that more light is better - with high-wattage flood lights. These lights shine directly onto our properties making it impossible to enjoy our gardens after dark. More education on "dark sky" lighting is needed by our neighbors and our city planners - ! Perhaps future HOUZZ articles can address "dark sky lighting" - !