Green with Envy

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The majority of outdoor entertaining happens after sunset. With busy schedules and later dinner hours, people tend to enjoy their gardens in the evening.

Landscape lighting has changed dramatically over the past decade and for the better. Not only will it show off your garden at night, but even the fixtures are a fabulous feature during the day. Attractive lighting fixtures can illuminate the garden pathway or a patio area or even a large shade tree.

Lighting is quite versatile; it may be visible or hidden somewhere up in a tree. Either way, landscape lighting can no longer be considered an afterthought to the garden design. The glow of the lights adds warmth and character to a winter landscape. It is a great investment when you consider the enjoyment of your garden after the first snowfall or after the work day ends.

Simply stated, night lighting provides visibility for a number of nighttime activities that take place in the garden: dining, conversing, walking and reading. By adding lighting, you can create a nighttime hierarchy of visual importance. What you look at first will be determined by how it is lit up. If you do not have lighting installed, it is a great idea to walk around your garden at night with a flashlight and see what shapes and features can be highlighted in your garden. You will be amazed by what you discover!

Will it be dramatic, mysterious or inviting? A multitude of effects can be achieved with landscape lighting. Light accents the colours, patterns and textures of the landscape. Floodlights can be mounted on walls, trees or arbours to provide dramatic silhouettes. I love to see the black silhouette of a tree canopy on the crisp white snow. For a moonlight garden you can plant a number of white annuals that reflect light: moonflowers, cosmos, alyssum or cleome. Contrasting light and dark forms together can lead to dramatic effects.

Up lighting effects (lighting fixtures placed at ground level) directed on specific focal points can show off a statue or sculpture at night from a window lookout. Garden statues take on a whole new look at night.

Will you lead or follow? Accent lights along a garden pathway can allow people to move through the garden safely. It also softens the harsh lines of a series of stairs. Lighting serves as a signal to illustrate a sense of place and direction. With a technique called 'backlighting,' you will not notice the light itself, but the effect of a light against a twiggy arbour or lattice fence.

It can give the impression of looking in a wonderful stain glass window as the light will pass through the various textures and colours as well as creating playful shadows. Contrasting shapes and lines of the garden architecture with the plant material is something to consider.

Extend your enjoyment and enhance the elegance of your outdoor space with a touch of lighting in your garden.

My next article to follow will focus on the how to of lighting design.

 

Marilyn Pomer is a landscape designer for Greenescape Designs Inc. E-mail Marilyn at marilyn@greenescape.ca with questions or comments.