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How to Light Your Garden
Gardens hold a special place in a homeowner’s heart. For many of us, they are a life’s work – continually being worked on and improved over many years.
One feature that can really lift the whole garden is lighting. Here at The Lighting Superstore, we’ve put together this guide to help you create your perfect garden. After reading, you can shop our outdoor lighting range. Throughout the guide you can also follow links to the specific types of garden lighting.
Types of Garden Lighting – Functional and Atmospheric
A wide variety of outdoor lighting options are available to you, all of which are broken into two main categories – functional and atmospheric.
As the names suggest, one group includes all lights that are there for a primary function – either security or illuminating a specific area like a pathway or patio. The other includes all lights that are there to create ambience and improve an area aesthetically.
All these lights serve various purposes and create different effects, so get creative with the space you have, and which type of lights will work best for your plan.
Functional
Security
These are usually floodlights, fitted with some form of motion sensor to trigger them when they detect a potential intruder.
Motion sensors can be used for other types of outdoor lighting, as they are not in use a lot of the time. They are convenient, energy efficient and cost effective.
To find out more, you can read our security lighting guide. You can also view our range of security lights.
Floodlights
Ideal for larger properties – floodlights can illuminate big open spaces. This can be useful if you are not looking to invest time and money into lots of smaller lights throughout the garden.
Floodlights can come in a range of sizes. They are used to illuminate areas ranges from a driveway, to a large garden, to a car park or sports stadium.
A big decision, as with most outdoor lighting, is whether to buy an LED or halogen floodlight. LEDs produce more light at a lower energy output compared to halogen. Halogen spotlights produce a lot of heat, which can lead to bulbs blowing out.
Spotlights
More targeted than floodlights - they can be used to light up paths, gardens and driveways.
These can be mounted on the ground or on a wall, so they are quite versatile. As well as illuminating open spaces, they can be used to highlight features like plants by fitting them on the ground and angling them upwards.
View our garden spotlight range here.
Wall lights
When it comes to wall lights, there are a lot of options to choose from. They come in a variety of materials, styles and can be fitted with a switch or motion sensor – making it a great energy saver. You can have the option for solar or mains power supply.
They come in a variety of styles and materials from galvanised steel, to copper, aluminium and brass.
Decking
Decking lights are great for providing guidance, as well as creating a classy looking garden setting.
Remember to buy decking lights before you have the decking in place – the lights must be built into the boards before they are put in place.
Take a look at our range of decking lights here.
Lamp Post/Bollard
Mainly used for lighting a path, post lights are not only used in gardens, but also for driveways. They offer a visually striking means of guiding pathways, so they will be less effective if your garden has lots of grass and a lack of paths.
They are typically fitted in place and draw their power from the mains, though there are options for solar powered post lights.
Atmospheric
String lights
These help to bring a warm, fun vibe to your garden and are ideal if you like to host plenty of parties. They come in a range of solar and battery powered options.
Available in a variety of colours and shapes, they allow you a good amount of customisation. String lights are great for adding personality to your garden.
Lanterns
Just like with string lights, they are a great decorative option for garden lighting. They come in a range of shapes and different coloured light so you can really get creative and inject your personality into your garden design.
As with string lights, lanterns can be either solar or battery powered.
Table
Use a table light as a centrepiece for your garden table and create a cosy, intimate setting. You can create a similar vibe to a pub garden with table lights, so they are a great choice if you want your garden to be a social hub for your family and friends.
LED or Halogen
One decision you will have to make with many of these different kinds of garden light is which type bulb to use. Specifically, whether to go with a traditional halogen bulb or with LED bulbs.
The main things to remember are that LED lights produce greater light than halogen, whilst using less power. They also last longer and are far less likely to break.
This means that over time, LED bulbs will save you more money than halogen, as they use less power and won’t need replacing as often. However, LED lights are considerably more expensive when you first buy them, so it is your choice – it depends on what suits your needs.
You can read more in depth on this in our light bulbs guide.
IP Rating
An important part of buying garden lighting is to look at the IP rating of your lights.
It stands for the Ingress Protection rating of electronic products. It is represented by a number, which tells you the level of protection a material offers from water and dust. The first number refers to protection against dust, the second number refers to water.
It is important for lights that will be exposed to heavy rainfall to have a higher IP rating, and even more vital if they are underwater lights for swimming pools or ponds. The higher the IP rating, the more expensive the product is so keep this in mind when shopping.
