The fact that there is light in a garden is not only important for the safety of residents and their guests. Nobody should be injured in a fall just because paths, stairs and dark corners are not properly lit. You can also design with garden lighting, make a garden really beautiful, even and especially in the dark. What use is the most beautiful garden if you can only see it in daylight. It is not important to illuminate the garden as brightly as day, but paths, stairs and dangerous areas should be bright enough that there is no risk of falling. It also looks great to emphasize special features of the garden or individual plants.
Table of Contents
Varianten und Ideen
There are many different options for garden lighting. Whether permanently installed lights along the paths, lamps attached to the house wall, solar-powered spotlights that illuminate individual areas, fairy lights, whether LED lamps built into the pavement, whether an illuminated stream, underwater light in the garden pond, there are no limits to your imagination.
The possibilities are practically unlimited. It is important that the “lighting system” is taken into account when planning the garden. It is expensive and time-consuming when the garden has already been laid out and then you have to start digging trenches again to lay cables to which the lamps are connected. It’s also expensive.
Basic information about light in the garden
Garden lighting can be planned and built by a professional, but the majority of garden and house owners do it themselves. You can still get advice. A few things should always be considered, this saves work and annoyance.
- In general, the house entrance, the way there and the way to the garage or carport should be well lit.
- Where safety is a priority, such as on stairs, along the pond or on slightly ascending or descending paths, you should use lamps powered by electricity. Solar lights are no longer reliable enough to illuminate such areas after a few days of cloudy weather.
- Power cables should be buried at least 60 cm, preferably 80 cm deep.
- Energy-saving and compact fluorescent lamps, halogen lamps or LEDs are ideal for the garden.
- Glare-free light is important.
- Luminaires should be dustproof, splashproof and waterproof.
- In the case of stairs, it is advantageous to install the light in the step or the side stones.
- Lamps for outdoor use should have the IP sign and a value of at least 43, preferably 44. An IP of at least 68 is good for the garden. Then they are absolutely waterproof, even when submerged.
- It is ideal if the lamps are also TÜV-tested.
- It is essential to avoid tripping hazards!!
- The garden and terrace must not appear overloaded!
Garden lighting ideas
If you need ideas, you should go for a walk in the dark in a residential area with detached and semi-detached houses. You can often see a lot there. Special exhibitions can also be very inspiring. It is important that the light sources all somehow fit together and with the character of the garden. If you have a cottage garden around your house, you shouldn’t use ultra-modern, unusually designed stainless steel lights, for example. After all, effective images should be created and everything has to fit.
- Garden lighting must look beautiful and be functional
- atmospheric light on the terrace
- dimmable lights are ideal
- Install lamps in such a way that no one is blinded
- Diode networks look beautiful over bushes or boxwood balls
- Fairy lights can set the stage for a terrace, a solitaire or a tree trunk
- Light balls look great throughout the garden
- also models with a remote control that change the color of the light
- Spotlight as a special highlight
- Trees lit from below
- Install spotlights somewhat hidden so that they cannot be seen at all during the day
- Ponds can also be perfectly illuminated
- Let bodies of water shine from within or provide light all around
- numerous underwater lights
- The water fountain can also be illuminated
- Orientation lights emit just enough light to get from one place to another safely
- If you have a covered terrace, you should install lamps in the roof
- small spots are ideal
- Luminous flower pots
- also do well on window sills
- Pots glow from within
- Garden lamps and spotlights must not be disruptive during the day
Planning the garden lighting
Planning the light in the garden is like the garden design as a whole. You need a floor plan on which you can draw the individual sections of the garden. Then you can see where light is needed. There, connections and, if necessary, cables must be laid. If you don’t have a garden plan available, you have to measure everything precisely and draw one yourself or just entrust a specialist with it. In any case, you can do whatever you like in terms of lighting in your garden. However, the neighbors should not feel disturbed.
You should think about how far cables have to be laid and where you can work with solar lamps. Wherever light is needed for safety reasons, lights powered by electricity work better. Illuminate corners of the garden where nobody would normally be, this is also possible without electricity. If a garden is newly created, it is easier to design and also to carry out.
Illuminating an “old” garden often means digging up a meadow, working your way through flower beds, around trees and bushes, in short, it’s more complex and exhausting, but you can’t change it. It is therefore important to have a plan right from the start, even if not everything can be implemented right away. Something that takes a lot of work and also causes additional costs must be well thought out and executed right from the start. The final solution usually takes time.
- Distribute power sources optimally over the garden
- run some power cables underground
- The underground cable that is laid should have enough cores to be able to operate as many lights as possible
- No matter what you lay in the ground, it should be marked on the garden plan so that you can find everything again
- Besides the cables, sockets are important
- available in sufficient numbers, but should be as invisible as possible
- Also plan for mobile sockets
- usually cheaper and can be used individually
Garden lighting tips
LEDs use little power and attract fewer insects than conventional lamps. The little lamps are also available in different colours. However, the acquisition costs are comparatively high.
Solar lamps can be easily installed anywhere afterwards. There are very inexpensive models for everyone who likes to have something new and doesn’t want their garden to look the same for decades. However, there are also very high quality and much more expensive models. These last much longer and are usually made of stainless steel and other high-quality materials. Solar lamps do not require electricity, but sun does. If the long time does not shine, the lamps do not light up. Also, the battery is usually not big enough for the lamps to emit light all night.
Energy-saving lamps with a built-in light sensor are ideal. These lamps turn on automatically when darkness falls and turn off again when it gets light.
You don’t have to light up your garden or the paths leading to the house brightly all night. Hardly anyone can pay for that these days. That’s why there are motion detectors. If a person enters the circle of the motion detector, the light goes on automatically. Guests or your own family can get from A to B safely, burglars are deterred, they prefer to come in the dark. Good motion detectors can be set so that they do not react quite as sensitively and are activated when a mouse or bird scurries by.
Luminaires with a very special color spectrum are recommended for the terrace or other seating areas. They magically attract mosquitoes and the insects burn when touched. However, all insects are attracted to it and this causes collateral damage. Alternatively, there are lights with a low UV light component. They generally attract fewer insects.
