How To Light Landscape Flower Beds
Summary: Lighting flower beds in the landscape goes beyond installing a solar garden light. Flower bed design may provide lots of ideas for flowers but lighting a flower bed has unique needs and requires the use of special landscape lighting fixtures. Read to to find out how to put lighting in your flower bed.
Question: We are interested in lighting our flower beds and have not had much success in getting advice down at our local garden center.
We would like to use solar landscape lights instead of low voltage lighting since some of the beds are scattered around our backyard and would not need to dig up the lawn. where should we start our flower bed lighting project? Suzanne, Germantown, MD
Answer: Suzanne, lighting flower beds can create some very dramatic nightime lighting and flower displays, but you will need to take a few things into consideration when installing lighting in flower beds. Read our article on 10 Garden Lighting Tips here
Depending on their size and shape, beds of flowers can utilize landscape lighting in a number of ways. as the flowers are frequently viewed from close up, floodlights or spotlights shining up from the ground are not very practical.
A mushroom pathway or garden light is most frequently used. It throws a pool of light downward away from the eyes and often can be strategically located to spill light onto a near-by garden path, terrace, or series of steps.
Since these reflectors are relatively close to the flowers, use a soft light to avoid harshness.
Flower shield lights also can be used to advantage to view a flower bed from one side only. Use individual flower lights to highlight single plants. A number of the smaller units attached in a string are excellent for lighting up long narrow flower beds or low border plantings.
Since these lighting fixtures are mounted on spikes, they can be quickly moved (a real plus with solar lighting fixtures) from one part of the bed to another as the bloom varies.
When floodlighting a large bed of flowers with one or more overhead lights, always add some touches of accent lighting to point out an interesting bloom, and to create a more interesting pattern of shadows. Otherwise, the over-all effect may have a flat sameness of appearance that lacks the third dimensional quality of an interesting scene.
Add this extra touch by one or two strategically located mushroom lamps, by an extra overhead spot lamp, or by another light directed from a low angle. These should be positioned to point out the best of the current blooms, while at the same time creating better modeling.
Above all, remember to make your flower landscape lighting flexible. Flowers are not permanent. Their bloom varies, and beds are easily and frequently moved about by many gardeners. therefore, plan your outdoor garden lighting so that it too can be easily and quickly moved about as required.
One of the best ways is to use solar lights mounted on ground spikes. If, you provide for a permanent free-standing weatherproof electrical outlet in each flower-bed area, you will always have light when and where you wish it.
