One of the best times to spend in your garden is the golden hour - the fleeting, yet serene moment when day meets night and the light transforms and enhances the features in the space.
But that sensation doesn’t have to end when the sun sets. You can create the same energy and depth with a professional lighting design scheme.
When executed correctly, garden lighting design can produce some stunning results - especially in large gardens.
In this article, we explore 4 ways to successfully light large gardens.
How to light large gardens
When it comes to lighting a large garden, there are many ares to consider adding light, such as paths, steps, sculptures, and water. Here’s how you can light each area.
1. Create a welcoming entrance & light pathways
The entrance to a large house is often accompanied by an impressive set of gates, where lighting the posts either side is usually enough. Even if the lighting on either side is subtle, it will still be obvious that this is the entrance to the house. The same should apply to the entrance to your garden.
A large garden is likely to have a variety of smaller paths that lead to different areas, which all need to be treated individually depending on the size of the path and how open or enclosed they are.
Paths approaching the home, or paths going form one area of the garden to another, don’t have to be even lit throughout. One option is to use indirect lighting from planting in the greenery.
2. Add drama with step lighting
Adding lighting to your steps is very important from a safety perspective, but they can also provide dramatic or soft light for your garden.
Step lighting solutions can vary depending on the style of your steps, and the location.
If there is a solid side to the steps, you can integrate a step light that washes light across the tread. Alternatively, if the steps are open at the side, then a directional light source focuses the light down onto the read, instead of across.
Additionally, you could also add light between planting, giving a gentle glow that can be added to the greenery either side of the steps.