When deciding on what lights to put where and how many, you’ll need to ask yourself what you are trying to achieve. There are 2 main functions for garden lighting, aesthetic and functional.

 

Functional lighting are the fittings installed to assist you getting around your garden in the evening and using specific areas. These include paths, stairs gazebos’, barbeques and other similar areas in your garden.

 

Aesthetic lighting is highlighting key features while still painting a general lighting effect across your landscape. Take special consideration when lighting up large trees, an important factor is to determine how many sides you can view the tree from and place a light fitting in front of each (max 3 per tree). It is also important to avoid to many dark spots when looking across your landscape in the evening, rather use lower brightness lamps and more fittings as this will give a better overall effect.

 

Another important aspect to bear in mind is that you use your garden differently in the different seasons throughout the year. Have multiple switches lighting different aspects of your landscape. In winter you may just want the main feature together with a few other lights on, while in summer you may want just the path lights leading to the pool on. Another great tip is if you have a pool have the light wired up to a switch in the house.