Landscape Lighting Design

Landscape lighting design involves much more than putting a few low voltage or solar lights around the trees, shrubs, flowers, and walkways on your property. A landscape lighting arrangement must include thoughtful planning, organization, and utilization of outdoor lighting that is both effective and visually appealing.  A goal of landscape lighting design is for the lights to blend in and enhance the landscaping, not compete with it or become a distraction in itself.

A well-designed lighting system for your garden and landscape enhances the aesthetics, utility, and security of your property, and provides an added source of enjoyment for the whole family. 

Thinking Beyond Two Dimensions

One of the first things that you need to consider when designing your landscape lighting is to go beyond two dimensional thinking.

For example, when testing lighting placement, you can see how the light looks one way when you shine a light down on it (downlighting), and looks different when shining the light up (uplighting). The types of lights you use, as well as where you place them can make a big difference on the resultant lighting effects.

Let your imagination roam, and consider lighting from different angles and perspectives, such as uplighting, downlighting, backlighting, shadowing, silhouettes, accent, and other unique lighting effects. 

Do It Yourself and Save

One great thing about designing your own landscape lighting is that you can probably do it yourself and save money. Should you choose to use 120-voltage lights in your landscape layout, it is strongly advised that you hire a licensed professional to run the wiring and install the lights. However, if you go with with low-voltage or solar lights, you can easily run the wiring yourself and save the expense of hiring a landscape lighting specialist.

It really just has to do with positioning things properly and testing everything out in place before you do the final installation. As long as you work at it this way and take your time whenever you're doing the installation, you would be surprised with what you are able to accomplish.

For a headstart on Landscaping Lighting Design, we recommend the "The Landscape Lighting Book, 2nd Edition," by Janet Lennox Moyer.

 This is a detailed, and comprehensive 440 page book, which covers theory, design process, project needs, and detailed techniques of landscape lighting. The author presents hundreds of diagrams, drawings, photographs, and several prizewinning projects she created herself that demonstrate creative new lighting ideas that will transform your landscape.

The second edition is fully updated to cover the latest technologies and equipment, with new chapters on installation, documentation, and seasonal lighting. It's offered by retail partner,  Amazon.com.  Check out the details below.

When designing your landscape lighting plan, you have several different options, including Solar Lights, Low Voltage (12-volt) Lights, LED Lights and Line Voltage (120-volt) Lights. For the Do-It-Yourselfer types, solar lights are the easiest to install, followed by low voltage lights.

Let's take a brief look at these different types of lights.

Solar Lights utilize a photocell to collect energy from the sun during the day and store it in a battery, which provides the power source for the light at night. Because solar landscape lighting is self-contained and generates its own power, there is no need to run electrical lines or install transformers. This makes it easy to place them just about anywhere you like and move or adjust them at will.

Visit our Solar Landscape Lightingpage here.

Low voltage (12-volt) lights are wired systems, so make sure that you lay out everything carefully in advance before you run the wiring. A low voltage system runs on 12 volts, which makes it energy efficient, relatively inexpensive, and generally safe for a homeowner to install. You'll need one or more transformers for a 12-volt system; however, you can easily run the cables along the ground surface with no need to use insulated conduit and junction boxes.

Besides the ease of installation, low voltage systems also provide the flexibility of being able to move your lighting fixtures with minimal disruption to your plantings.

Learn more about Low Voltage Lighting here.

LED Lights utilize low voltage LED's (Light Emitting Diodes). LED lights are very energy efficient and competively priced, which reduces the cost of installation and operation of the outdoor lighting system. As technology improves, LED's are becoming an increasingly attractive alternative to traditional light sources. Many Solar and Low Voltage sytems use LED bulbs.

To find out more about LED lights, visit our LED Landscape Lighting page.

Line Voltage (120-volt) lighting systems are generally not recommended as Do-It-Yourself projects. It should be installed by a licensed professional and conform to all required local and national electrical codes. 120-voltage lighting systems utilize the standard electrical line voltage in the home, and are generally used in landscape lighting plans that cover a larger area and include security/flood lights.  

Visit our Line Voltage Lighting page here.

Combining Line and Low Voltage Systems

In some cases, a combination of 12-Volt and 120-volt systems will provide the best of both worlds for optimal lighting performance. You can use one or more transformers to spin 12-volt circuits off the main 120-volt line. If you don't use a licensed electrician to install your lights, you must take care that installation conforms to all local electrical codes as necessary. If you have any doubts or concerns about your installation, bring in a professional.

It's Your Choice

Finally, whatever lighting system you decide on is a personal choice, although the layout of your landscape may be more conducive to one specific type of lighting system. Whether you go with 120-volt, low voltage lights  or solar lights -all are equally capable of providing the illumination you need to brighten up your landscape any way you imagine.

Related Articles:

• Get the Most from Your Garden Lighting - This article presents some ways that Landscape Lighting Design will help you get the most out of your garden lighting.