Landscape Architect Articles

LCN June 2006 Landscape Lighting05-31-06 | News

Lighting the Garden

By Steve Parrott, media and marketing director, CAST Lighting LLC

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MR16 directional bullet lights are the workhorse of the landscape lighting, perfect for uplighting structures and flora. Photos courtesy of CAST Lighting ( www.cast-lighting.com).

Garden beds are more than plants and flowers, they are sources of pride and joy for the homeowner. With this in mind, the lighting designer seeks to give them an illumination that allows their beauty to glow in the nighttime experience.

Plant Illumination

Plants and flowers differ in how they reflect, absorb and transmit light. This is important because they appear differently when lit from above, below or behind. Thick waxy leaves look black if they are lit from behind or below, while thinner, more translucent leaves glow with an ethereal beauty when the light source is behind them.

Keeping this in mind, whenever possible we project light in ways that best enhance the viewer?EUR??,,????'?????<

Path lights. These fixtures, such as ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Directional down lights (MR16 bullets, tree lights, etc.) can project upon gardens when mounted on structures and trees. Since these fixtures are typically mounted greater than 15 ft. from plant material, they tend to wash entire garden areas with light and may lack some of the mystery and romance better achieved with path lights that selectively highlight garden regions. Tree lighting, however, adds it own romance when projected through branches casting interesting shadows in simulation of moonlight.

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Bounce Lighting This is a variation of downlighting, illumination that bounces off the undersides of gutters, sidings or trees can provide an extremely diffuse and subtle lighting on garden beds. When lighting the side of a house with MR16 directionals, tilt the fixtures so the beam reflects off the underside of the gutter. The reflected light can illuminate the entire garden bed around the house. For gardens situated underneath trees with fairly low branches, uplights will bounce back to a degree dependant on the reflectivity of the branches and leaves.

Up, Side and Backlighting. When we illuminate plants from underneath, the side or behind, we see a combination of light reflected off the leaves and transmitted through the leaves (as though the leaves are glowing). With downlighting, we see only reflected light. In lighting plants low to the ground, care must be taken to ensure that hot spots will not over-illuminate plant regions. Careful aiming and the use of diffusion or optical spread lenses can reduce hot spots and ensure the plants receive an even and nondistracting light. This type of lighting also creates the opportunity to direct shadows from the plants on building surfaces and retaining walls. Plant shadows are often the most impressive defining effect in a landscape lighting design.

Installation and Fixture Selection Tips

Protect your wires. It?EUR??,,????'?????< Leave extra wire near fixture. Since you will probably need to relocate fixtures as the garden grows, bury extra lead wire near the fixture. Select durable fixtures. Since garden fixtures can receive a lot of abuse, use extremely durable ones, such as solid bronze fixtures.

Illuminating Info

20: Feet, the potential distance of glare from path lights. Lighting installers should beware of the glare from path lights - even an elevation change of a couple of feet will direct light into the eyes of a person 20 feet away. Source: John Deere Landscapes

150 Million: Value, in dollars, of garden, patio and yard lights sold in 2001.

12 Million: Number of units of garden, patio and yard lights sold in 2001. Source: U.S. Census Bureau