Light Up: 10 Good Reasons to Use Outdoor Lighting

As we increasingly live in our gardens and use them as an extension to the house, so we expect our comfort levels to be virtually the same inside and out. Lighting plays a big part in creating a pleasant environment outdoors making it easier to cook, entertain, soak in the spa and move about safely in the dark. It can also help to establish mood in a garden whether you’re planning an intimate, candlelit dinner for two, or a full-blown party complete with fairy lights and coloured LED uplighting. And if your garden doesn’t look that flash by day with well-positioned lighting, it can be transformed into a magical place at night.

To personalise your garden, take a creative approach to outdoor lighting, mixing traditional candles and lanterns with electrical uplights and submersible spotlights in water features. Although there are many different types of electrical outdoor lighting now available – from fibre optics and LEDs to halogen and fluorescent lighting – some are more complicated than others to install, so it pays to consult an electrician or lighting designer.

Here are some very good reasons to light up your backyard… 

1. Extend your use of the garden

Outdoor lighting significantly increases your enjoyment of the garden so it can be used or viewed at night as well as in day. Today, many people work long hours and only see their gardens after dark during the week. If your outdoor space is largely a night garden, then lighting is an essential ingredient, along with scented plants, outdoor heaters or fireplaces and comfy seating. 

Like paving and other in-built outdoor elements, lighting is best planned before a garden is built. You can install a comprehensive lighting system in an established garden but you may need a skilled tradesman or lighting designer to help. If you’re not sure where to position lights initially, get mains power cabling laid to a central location in the garden so you can install a 12-volt transformer in the future. Use key paths to locate conduit and wiring.

2. Enhance outdoor entertaining 

Low-level lighting beneath floating bench seating, as well as uplights hidden in the plants, gives this Sydney deck area new life after dark. The lighting used here creates a calm environment for alfresco dining, whereas strings of fairy or fibre optic lights wrapped around the tree trunk would make the atmosphere more festive and party-like. It pays to avoid bright or strongly coloured lighting unless it is screened from neighbours and is an essential part of the atmosphere you are trying to create outside.

3. Provide task lighting

Where a good strong light is needed for cooking, security and other practical functions use directional task lighting as shown in this Perth patio area. However, always make sure you can vary the light intensity. Here, dimmer switches would ensure the very bright light levels can be lowered once the food is cooked and dining is underway.

4. Create atmosphere

Just as lighting should suit the different functions of garden spaces it should also create an atmosphere that reflects its overall style. Here, downlights washing the brick walls and simple bulbs slung on wires are ideal for an urban courtyard. 

An oriental- or subtropical-themed garden might lend itself to bamboo flares or lanterns along a pathway and floating tea lights in water bowls and ponds. In formal gardens, highlight the shapes of clipped topiary or decorative urns and, for natural or cottage gardens, think about washes of light against walls and fences or across sweeps of plants. Try to resist lighting the entire garden – spacing lights to leave mysterious pools of darkness between them gives a more natural feel.

5. Improve access

Hidden downlights, such as those used in this Perth entrance garden, are ideal for guiding people as they move along boardwalks, driveways, paths, steps and through changes of level. They can also be used to delineate the edge of a garden bed or a deck. Avoid glare or blinding lights shining into people’s eyes as they move around the garden.

6. Draw the eye to focal points

The blue uplight in this Sydney garden immediately focuses the line of sight on the stunning spherical artwork on the rear boundary. The designer has also used uplights to highlight the bold form of the sculptural aloe behind the sphere. When a plant or artwork is positioned against a plain wall consider using back lighting (placing the light source behind the feature) to shine upwards creating a strong silhouette.

7. Add magic to water elements…

Submersible lighting is an absolute essential for any water feature at night, giving it a poetic dimension that is often missing in the clear light of day (it’s also a good safety feature). In this Noosa courtyard, plants and other architectural features are subtly reflected in the water of the pond instilling an ephemeral, mysterious feeling.

8. …and swimming pools

Without lighting swimming pools become black holes at night. Turn them into dramatic night-time features with a mix of different lighting types as shown here in this contemporary minimalist garden in Melbourne. Water jets and other areas of moving water can also be added to inject more life and sparkle into swimming pools at night.

9. Make structures safe…

Steep stairs like these obviously need to be well lit for safety purposes at night. But you also need to use lighting to indicate any change of level in a garden, as well as to mark structures such as walls, pergolas, swimming pools and screens.

10. …and your garden more secure 

Outdoor lighting is an excellent burglar deterrent. Installing uplights along the boundary of this Melbourne garden is not only off-putting to would-be thieves, but it draws the eye to the beautiful fencing patterns and allows the central seating area to be more subtly lit. In smaller urban gardens it is often better to place lighting further away from the boundaries to make the space feel larger and avoid upsetting neighbours.

Article by Carol Bucknell