Garden lighting AKA nightscaping

Garden lighting sometimes known as nightscaping

There’s no doubt that lighting in any garden adds a new dimension, but what do you need? What will it look like? How much will it cost to light a garden?

Unfortunately there is no correct answer; creativity, experience and knowledge play a vital part in adding lighting to garden. Anyone who has worked as a lighting technician in the theatre has intimate knowledge of lighting techniques used in gardens. All the lighting techniques used in lighting outdoor spaces are “borrowed” from the theatre.

There are a wide range of outdoor garden lighting techniques, all of which come from the theatre.

Accent OR Spotlighting – We use Accent OR Spotlighting techniques to highlight a particular feature
Cross lighting - if a feature is worth lighting then cross lighting will create an even better almost 3D effect, combine this effect with shadows and see and object not only light but projected onto a surface for highly dramatic results
Up lighting – light any tall object or create a dramatic canopy
Down lighting – typically used for security, however, done well it is a very cheap way to create interesting effects
Spread lighting – great for lighting borders
Shadowing – add more drama to a feature
Silhouetting – fantastic for strange shaped objects
Flood lighting - see down lighting
Moon lighting – like floodlighting but through the branches of trees or very tall plants to cast a shadow

However these are just techniques, any twit can stick a spotlight in front of an accent plant and it looks good. A good designer takes these techniques and incorporates them seamlessly into the garden in order to transform an area into a feature, Therefore lighting should not be considered at a later stage, rather it should be incorporated at the initial design stage.

All of these techniques can make a garden look very special and done well can make a garden spectacular. Not only extending the gardens period of usage but creating what could be considered a second garden, one, which looks completely different from the daytime one.