Landscaping Lighting

Let there be light! 

One of the best things you can do for your landscaping and your home is to add outdoor lighting. The proper amount of lighting makes all the difference in the value, look, and feel of your home.

When it comes to landscaping and lighting, there are a lot of things to consider and options to choose from. From solar-powered to wired, walkways to walls, planters, and other landscaping features, Scenic Landscaping has seen and installed all types of lighting fixtures. No matter the size of your yard, home, or project, we’ll share with you some ideas, some insights, and, of course, some helping hands. 

What Is Landscaping Lighting And Why Is It Useful?

Landscaping lighting is, essentially, the process of designing and installing lighting systems that can light any outdoor landscape. Landscape lighting is the light system that illuminates the outdoor landscape. It can be installed just about anywhere or anyway you could imagine or want, to match the rest of your home and landscape. 

Just as you would design the layout and colors of your plants and flowers that make up your landscaping, the way it’s illuminated can and should be taken into account. There are so many different options of colors, features, and types of lights that can really complement your yard and home.

Adding lighting to your landscaping is a great idea and a great return on investment. It adds to your home’s security system, it makes your home more inviting (to wanted guests), and it increases safety when walking around in the dark. Adding landscaping lighting also increases the overall value and curb appeal of your home, and it allows for you to enjoy your patio and landscaping – whether with guests or alone – well into the night. 

 

What Is The Process Of Landscaping Lighting?

The process of landscaping lighting can be complicated if you are unfamiliar with landscaping and/or lighting systems, but don’t get discouraged as you don’t need to be an expert and the process can be quite fun and creative. Regardless of that, though, there are several key steps in the landscaping lighting process. By following these steps, developing the ideal landscape lighting system is relatively easy and much simpler than it can be.

Determining functionality

To begin the landscaping lighting process, it’s important to consider what the landscape is used for and what the landscape lighting system will be used for. By doing this, it is easy to understand how space is already used, and the ways in which the lighting system needs to enhance or transform those particular uses. Take note of all landscape features you have and which ones catch your attention the most. That way, you can determine where the new lights will go and how they’re integrated into their surrounding area. 

Consider how much concrete needs to be illuminated and what landscape features you’d like to highlight. Also consider if you’d like to add more lighting on the pathway or next to steps or if you’d like lighting in any bushes, water features, or trees. We also recommend using existing structures to highlight certain areas, with what we call “hardscape lighting.” Hardscape lighting can be integrated into walls, facades of the house, steps, benches, fire pits, etc. Hardscaping is quite popular and a bit more minimalistic and clean-looking. 

Choosing the lighting

Once you figure out the functionality of the landscape and lighting, the lights must be chosen. Usually, this comes quite easily, since you will know why, exactly, you need this landscape lighting system and what it will do. But, it is important to think about the lights that are right for your landscape, and the purposes that each individual light will serve.

Installing the lighting system

Once you have your components, you will need to set them up. Doing this is quite easy, but it often takes a long time. You will need to bury the electrical cables, set the light fixtures into the ground, attach the electrical wiring, and then hook-up and start the main transformer. If you aren’t familiar with those tasks, then hiring a professional may be the best choice, since there’s significantly less risk. If you’ve chosen to go with solar-powered lighting, the installation process is a lot quicker and smoother.

Turning on the lights

Right after the components are set-up, you can turn on the lighting system. If it has been set up properly, then the lights will illuminate your outdoor landscape in the exact manner that you intended! Sometimes when you turn your landscape lights on, more “lights” inside the head turn on, as to what to add or what to remove from your lighting.

What Are Some Excellent Landscape Lighting Styles And Ideas?

The list of landscape lighting styles and ideas is truly endless. There are many different landscape lighting styles and unique lighting ideas and, while they are all very interesting, some aren’t practical and some styles can get quite expensive. Most of them are quite similar to one another, since they are all a part of landscape lighting, so if there is a style that’s out of your price range, chances are there’s a similar style for much less. Each style possesses its own practical and aesthetic benefits, of course. From fixtures to features, here are a few lighting things to consider:

Moonlighting

Moonlighting is a very popular landscape lighting style, as it creates the appearance of moonlight shining through a particular option. To use the moonlighting style, a small light with a full-glare guard must be placed into a tree or on a surface that’s above the light. When the light is placed downwards, it looks as if the light of the moon is shining on that spot. It can be used in all kinds of spaces.

Silhouetting

Silhouetting is a little easier to set up, and it has its own strong aesthetic quality. A large light is placed behind a particular feature – a tree, plant, chair, or bench; among endless examples – and then pointing that light away from the feature towards the surface behind it, a lovely silhouette is created. 

For especially large outdoor landscapes – big gardens and outdoor parks often use this system – small, aesthetically-pleasing lights can be placed in bushes and near the grass. If these lights are relatively small and not too bright, it adds a magical quality to the outdoor landscape.

Hardscape Lighting

We talked about this earlier, but it’s definitely a popular style in the Rocky Hill area. Hardscape lighting really helps give perspective and definition to existing structures and features. The lights are more sleek in their design and there’s less focus on the light fixtures themselves than there is on the structures and elements that the lights highlight. 

We can hardscape-install lighting fixtures on steps and pavers, walkways and pathways, the facade of your home, driveways, edging, and so many other places that make up your current landscape. If there aren’t those structures, we’re happy to add them, too!

Regardless of the landscape lighting style that you would like, or the landscape lighting needs that you have, Scenic Landscaping can help. By working with us, we will help nail down what it is that you are looking for in a landscape lighting system and the best way for that to happen.

Then, we will develop and set-up the perfect landscape lighting system just for you!