It caused me, though, to wonder . . . How far have we come in such a short time in this electronic age? After all, it was only a couple hundred years ago that Ben Franklin tied that key around a string and floated that now famous kite into the midst of a thunderstorm.

It took about 100 years after Franklin?EUR??,,????'???s exploit for good ol?EUR??,,????'??? Tom Edison to vacuum the air out of a glass ?EUR??,,????'??bulb?EUR??,,????'?? and provide us all with the makings of landscape lighting. Whoa . . . Slow down there, cowboy . . . (That?EUR??,,????'???s the next thing my son said as I threw a blanket over his head, effectively separating his line of sight from the hand held entertainment.)

Some of the first applications for the incandescent light bulb were to light up the street of the city, replacing the old whale oil and gas lamps. Effectively the first electronic ?EUR??,,????'??landscape lighting?EUR??,,????'?? was street lighting. It would take many more years before anyone thought to hide the light and cast shadows for effect . . .

Even with light bulbs in every major department store, it wasn?EUR??,,????'???t all that long ago that men like John Watson put candles into tin cans and placed them around a yard to elicit ?EUR??,,????'??Special Effects?EUR??,,????'?? in the landscape for celebrations and noteworthy events.

Such early experiments led to true outdoor fixtures and terms like ?EUR??,,????'??up lighting,?EUR??,,????'?? ?EUR??,,????'??moonlighting?EUR??,,????'?? and ?EUR??,,????'??downlighting,?EUR??,,????'?? et al.

That old saying that ?EUR??,,????'??a landscape is in the night as often as it is in the day?EUR??,,????'?? has turned out to be a real boon for the landscape professional.

Still it wasn?EUR??,,????'???t until the 80?EUR??,,????'???s (the 1980?EUR??,,????'???s) that they figured out that little MR-16 low-voltage cockpit lights would be a great way to light up the outdoors. Not only were they pretty bright, they could be set up with a transformer, a bunch of wire and almost anyone with two hands. Look Ma, I can touch the wires and not get shocked!!!

Now 50,000 hour LED lights are being put to use in everything from those ?EUR??,,????'??shell?EUR??,,????'?? path lights to downtown streetlights. Think about it?EUR??,,????'??+50,000 hours gives you about 11 years of 12-hour illumination, seven days a week . . . The problem, though, is that those LEDs never actually go out, they just keep getting dimmer, so many are kept in use long after they quit providing usable light . . .

Still, look how far we have come in just a few short years . . . Even now, the latest, greatest is solar lighting for the landscape. Who needs wires and transformers when you can place a light wherever you want it, come back that night and voil??EUR??,,?EUR , the landscape is lit!!! Don?EUR??,,????'???t like it here . . . Put it there. Need three instead of two, no problem . . . No trenching, no extra wires, no figuring out how many watts you can add to the line . . .

Today, as a landscape professional you have so many tools in your arsenal to illuminate the landscapes of your clients, you really need to know what is available and how each different bulb (LED, MR-16, Mercury Vapor, Metal Halide, etc.) and each different supply of electricity can be used.

Landscape used to be all about the art of picking plants. Landscape lighting used to be all about the art of placing lights . . . Well, today, there is as much science as there is art in the lighting of the landscape . . .

Welcome to the 21st century!

God Bless