GARDENING
Simple lighting of old oak. Credit: Guy Harrop.
The Magic of Garden Lighting Garden lighting isn’t just for Christmas. . . Many of us enjoy decorative lighting in the house during the festive period, but lighting in the garden looks good all year. There is a huge range of lights available, to give any number of effects, from up-lighting specimen trees to casting dramatic shadows on walls and fences to stylish lighting on steps and paths and for seating areas. If you are thinking of redesigning or making alterations to your garden, it is best not to leave plans for the lighting until after the hard landscaping has been completed – it is much easier to install at the build stage. You might also want to consider planting specimens that would make good subjects for night time focal points such as a multi-stemmed silver birch or the coloured culms of bamboo. Deciding on exactly what to light can cause a lot of head-scratching, so a good way to start is by walking around
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the garden with a floodlight to see what effects you can create. Shine it into the canopy of a tree, down onto a sculpture or water feature; try different angles, different wattages and even colours. In a small garden especially, keep it simple. Just a string of fairy lights or a few lanterns can have a surprisingly striking effect. The internet is a useful source of information and inspiration on effects and design ideas. Probably the most important considerations when designing your outside lighting is the environment, wildlife and your neighbours. Studies have shown that bats in particular are disturbed by bright bluish white lights and may travel for miles out of their way to avoid them, using up valuable energy reserves; so it is important to choose lights coloured yellowish white through red. To help our bats, make sure your security PIR lights are correctly set up.
They should go off within two minutes of triggering and the sensitivity should be set so that they are only triggered by an intruder and not by a small animal or even the bats themselves. Use anti-glare shields to reduce upward light spill; moths navigate by light sources such as the moon and may become disorientated by artificial lights. Lighting is most effective when kept localised; an adjustable light over the BBQ area is much more stylish than one powerful floodlight over the whole of the back of the house. Don’t forget that a little light goes a long way; a lamp as low as a 3w LED is surprisingly bright at night as it does not have to compete with daylight. These low energy LED lamps have a low carbon rating helping to reduce your energy costs and carbon footprint.
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