Home Removal Services Blog

Just a few years ago it seemed quite rare to find people lighting their garden in the evening, which may have been due to the limited lighting options available then. Now though there is a huge choice of outdoor lighting available to satisfy most projects and budgets, with outdoor LED lighting emerging as a dominant player in this field.

And it’s easy to see why, since LED garden lighting enables attractive and hitherto unachievable effects that are at the same time simple to install and inexpensive to both purchase and operate. They are also quite safe around delicate plants, animals and children thanks to their very low power consumption and corresponding absence of heat.

LED garden lighting is typically powered the same way as conventional garden lighting, with individual light fittings connected to a 12v DC low voltage power supply cable, fed by a transformer connected to the mains (located indoors). However LED garden lights use only ten percent as much electricity as traditional systems using incandescent bulbs (including halogen lamps).

Traditional incandescent light bulbs operate by burning a filament that turns electricity into mostly heat (about 90%) and some light (up to 10%) whereas LED light bulbs electronically excite electrons which as a result cause photons (visible light) to be emitted. The nice part about such Light Emitting Diodes is that the heat to light ratio is the exact reverse with 90% of the input electricity now converted to light.

What this all means is that LED lights have two important characteristics. Firstly since most of the energy is converted to light not heat they run comparatively cool (you can certainly touch them). Secondly they need ten times less electricity to create the same light levels (a 5w LED will match a 50w incandescent) and accordingly cost ten times less to run. LED lights also have life spans twenty or more times longer thus reducing maintenance overheads.

On the issue of the quality of white light produced by LED lights, the Colour Rendering Index which assesses how faithfully an object is depicted using artificial light rates them highly. The basic color choice for most LED garden lights is white but they also come in a wide selection of other stunningly rich colours too.

The light that is emitted by an LED is a pure color, meaning that it represents just one part of the spectrum rather than being a blend of colors. This tends to give them a somewhat metallic, gem like appearance – think sapphire blue, emerald green, diamond white and ruby red. LED lights are also by nature very directional which makes them ideal for spot lighting, though other effects are easy to create using diffusers and filters.

Nowadays of course you can find LED outdoor lights in all manner of different types: rock lights; floodlights; patio and deck lights; wall wash effects; lanterns; spikes; integrated in garden ornaments; submerged in ponds; pagodas, and bollards. Yet the most enduring style still seems to be the LED spot light.

Finally, a simple checklist of points to consider when buying LED garden lights.

First be aware of the low power needs – even a tiny 1w LED will seem remarkably bright in a dark garden.

Second check how widely spread out narrowly focused the beam angle is and whether that suits your intended purpose.

Third, the electronic circuitry in most LED lights is easily ruined if the outer casing is not robust enough to keep out moisture.

Finally, where LED lights are concerned cost and quality go hand in hand and you will tend to get what you pay for.

Established lighting design theory revolves around the idea of identifying and mixing together four main lighting types, namely decorative, accent, ambient and task lighting. And out in the garden we find that things are in principle little different for designing effective outdoor lighting. However, there are some important differences to be aware of before we look further at each of these lighting types.

Firstly there is an issue of scale. Indoor spaces are bounded by ceilings and walls and are thus quite restricted when compared to even a tiny garden. Outdoors the ceiling stretches up to the stars and when night falls it’s not clear where the edges are either.

This presents a number of problems and benefits where garden lighting design is concerned. Indoors, much of the light gets reflected from the ceiling and walls which simply increases the level of ambient light in the room. Outdoors however, light simply vanishes into space which creates a strong contrast with nearby areas and causes them to appear even more dark.

This lack of reflected ambient light means that many common indoor lighting techniques won’t work in the garden; but it also means that you can use this darkness to create interesting effects and in extreme cases design a night time garden that apparently bears no relationship to the daylight version by emphasising certain features and concealing others.

There is also the matter of how you plan on using your outdoor spaces. A classic garden design theory is that you should regard your garden as an additional room (or set of rooms) and design accordingly, lighting included.

You most probably use quite different lighting for specific rooms largely to suit their functional purpose; bedroom lighting for example as compared to kitchen lighting. Accordingly, if you intended to designate your deck as an entertainment area then you would also expect to fit lighting designed to support that purpose. And looking at other zones in the garden, say a water feature or walkway, it is again likely you would adapt the lighting to the intended purpose.

Which brings us finally back to the four primary lighting categories and their use outside.

Although ambient light is a cornerstone for the other three lighting types where interior lighting design is concerned, outdoors it can’t easily be used in this way because of the absence of reflective planes; instead ambient light is often pushed to the fore rather than playing second fiddle to the other types. Solar garden lights are a classic example of the kind of diffuse lights that gives a soft, pleasant glow without really calling attention to themselves.

Accent lighting is concerned with drawing attention to and showing off detail and/or color in whatever garden features you want to emphasize. It can also be used to draw the eye in particular directions. Spotlights are commonly used for outdoor accent lighting and for a really contemporary look, LED spot lights that deliver sharp, vibrant light and also run cold and can thus go places where hot incandescent lamps can’t.

Decorative lighting serves much the same overall purpose as accent lighting in that it is there simply to look attractive and catch your eye; the principal difference is that decorative lighting doesn’t illuminate anything else – it is itself the focal point. And like accent lighting, most modern decorative lighting is in fact LED based.

Garden task lighting is not really concerned with being able to read a book and such like but simply providing enough light for people to move around in safety. So path lighting, those LED deck lights that seem to get installed everywhere (and not just in decks) and lighting around areas where people might want to have some vague idea what they’re drinking or eating.

Successful garden lighting depends on combining all the four core lighting types, just the same as interior lighting design (and it’s also good to have independent control of the task lighting). Over reliance on just one type will almost always produce an unsatisfactory result. Ambient lighting alone will make your garden appear drab and formless; accent lighting used in isolation can seem over dramatic and rather harsh; and too much decorative lighting creates a disjointed and slightly tacky look.

An easy way to ensure a good mix of lighting types in your garden is to buy different types of light fitting. So have a number of different styles of spotlight (varying in brightness and beam angle) plus say some all purpose lanterns and spikes. Mix in a few coloured lights and combine both solar and low voltage mains lighting. LED garden lights are commonly found in both these formats and complement each other very well.