Illumination is one of the most important aspects of transforming a garden. It can breathe life and colour into the darkest, dullest corners, and elevate any landscape designer’s ideas to new, lofty heights. Any garden designer worth their salt will rank lighting as a key consideration, but even if you’re not interested in having your garden completely redesigned, the right choice of lighting can still make a world of difference to how you experience it.
Before we get into any further detail, it’s important to point out that lighting is a very technical medium that’s difficult to get right. The end results might be mind-blowingly impressive, but the journey there is fraught with pitfalls and problems to those unprepared. Not only do you need a great eye for detail, colour and art, you also need to be a master of electronics and be able to wrap your head around what’s possible and what’s not. We’re confident that the desired result can always be achieved with the right approach, knowledge and expertise – and that’s where lighting designers really come into play.
Getting the choice of lights just right
Lighting technology is constantly evolving, and it’s important to pick the right type of lighting for the effect you want to achieve. Whether you want to liven up a wall or the side of your home with some recessed lighting, sink some spotlights into a driveway or pool, or even draw attention to foliage and features with delicate floodlights. Sometimes it’s necessary to combine safety with aesthetics, like installing LUXR step lights to illuminate short staircases. The options are many, and for those unfamiliar with the world of lighting it can be overwhelming. Attempting to do something like this yourself will often result in the wrong lights being placed in suboptimal areas, leading to an underwhelming and disappointing experience.
Then there’s the colour and luminosity to think about. CRI stands for ‘Colour Rendering Index’ and this needs to be considered at all times. We find a CRI of 90 to be perfect for most outdoor uses, but it can vary slightly. There’s also light temperature to consider, whether it’s warm, white or cold. We find 2700k to be about right for most situations but this, again, can vary.
What about cabling and energy efficiency?
Energy usage is high on everyone’s agenda at the moment, not least because running a set of garden lights can be expensive if not implemented in the right way. At Kingson, we take energy efficiency quite seriously when designing a new lightscape, which is why we always recommend HUNZA low voltage LEDs. All are long-life bulbs, weather resistant and come with an extended warranty of up to 8 years. They’re also easy to service, which will make your life easier years down the line when you want to make changes and tweaks to your gardenscape. Cabling is also a primary concern. A big part of designing a good and effective lightscape is being to make clever use of circuits and control points. In some instances, running a 5-core armoured cable with multiple switch-lines and circuits will be the only way to achieve the effect you’re looking for (particularly in bigger gardens) – and this is clearly something best left to the professionals.
Choosing how to control the lights
This is a huge factor and something not many people consider. If you hire a lighting designer they should have this in the forefront of their mind when sketching out plans. Some lights will need to work automatically, and some will need to be isolated so they can be turned off and on independently. There might be a need for various control points around the garden. Some will want dimmer options or the ability to switch to preset colourscapes on the fly. Some people prefer to have remote, wireless controls so they can control the lighting in their garden wherever they happen to be.
Whatever you choose to do in your garden, make sure you take lighting seriously and hire professional lighting designer to really bring it to life in the best way possible. We’ve worked closely with John Cullen at John Cullen Lighting and Mark Enright at The Landscape Garden Co. on many projects, so we’re used to collaborating on bigger gardens and turning our clients’ ideas into reality. Even if you’re not sure where to begin, you can always reach out to us for a free, no obligation quote or a bit of a friendly advice. We’re always around, and always happy to talk about all things lighting.
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For more information on garden lighting or a free consultation, contact us today. We’re happy to answer any questions and can even draw up a design quote for you with no charge or obligation. Call 01442 531 176 or email info@kingsonelectrical.co.uk.