Light in the night garden

By Shauna Dobbie

Light on house and trees.

Your garden is another place after the sun goes down. No more bees buzzing or butterflies flitting or children laughing. After dark is time for moths and fireflies and secrets softly told. The night garden is a magical place, and with a little lighting, it can be bewitching.

Power

First off, let’s look at what you don’t need: a whole lotta power. LEDs are enough to light your yard and they will keep your electricity bill down. Use them.

Non-electric

Fire, the original illuminator. A fire pit, if your municipality allows it, creates instant ambiance. Tiki torches give a festive glow. And candles create romance and subdued light. Put them inside of lanterns so the wind can’t blow them out.

DIY

String lights can go just about anywhere in your yard and add radiance. Tack them to the top of an arbour or along your fence. Hang them in trees. String them overhead.

There are the little fairy lights, which are great for tiny pricks of illumination among the foliage. There are bigger-bulbed festoon lights, which make a statement on their own; you can use them to define a space by outlining it.

What about glow stones? These luminescent pebbles aren’t for everyone, but they’ll give an eerie brilliance if massed together.

Solar lights are plug and play without the plug. They come in all shapes and sizes now. Look online for fantastic forms.

Call an electrician

Get someone who knows what they’re doing to install lights that you’ll control with a switch.

In this category, you can mix and match fixtures designed to light trees, your house, fence, walkway and stairs. You can also have an expert hardwire lamps to light a patio dining table or conversation area. A chandelier above an outdoor table? Why not! There are some made for outdoors now.

Notice the festoon lights in the pergola and decorative fixtures lighting the garden.

Solar lights.

What to do when solar lights don’t work

1. Check to see if there’s an on-off switch. Turn it on.

2. Check if there’s a plastic pull-tab to prevent the battery from being engaged. Pull it out and throw it away.

3. Is it dark out? Most won’t work when it’s light out.

4. Make sure the solar panel is clean and that nothing is between the panel and the sun during the day.

5. Refresh the battery. If everything else is in order, your battery may be worn out. Open the battery case and replace.

By lighting the water feature and the trees, this scene from the Montreal Botanical Garden looks like it’s glowing from within. And bynot lighting the water, you get a mirror image of the scene below.

For about $10 in string lights, this eating area was raised from ordinary to celebratory.

From under this bandshell, the world beyond would fade to blackness. It would feel like being in space.

The carriage of flowers glows in the dark with a gentle splash of light on it.

Two reasons to light up your garden

To see

Up to 80 percent of your impressions come to you through sight, and sight is nothing without light. You need to consider what the lights will do where you put them. If they’re for a task, such as barbecuing, you will need enough light to distinguish colour, to tell if meat is cooked. If they’re for an area for quiet conversation, a candle might be enough, whereas in an area for a gathering, you’d need more generalized light, coming from multiple sources.

For ambiance

How much of the world around you do you see at any given time? To get to your front door, it’s helpful to see the walk and nice to see the flowers along the walk or the bare and stately limbs of a tree or trees in winter. For a meal on the patio, you’ll need to see each other’s faces and the food you’re eating, but not necessarily in stark daylight terms. A little mystery afforded by some lower lighting can make the mood of the gathering more dynamic.

From under this bandshell, the world beyond would fade to blackness. It would feel like being in space.

The carriage of flowers glows in the dark with a gentle splash of light on it.