Garden Lighting Design

For much of the British year the garden is dark by the time anyone looks at it. Lighting is not a finishing touch; it is what the garden looks like for half its life.

Good schemes light objects, not areas. A single mature tree uplit from two positions, a low wash across a stone wall, and discreet light to steps will do more than a dozen spike lights scattered through a border.

Colour temperature matters. Anything above 2700K reads as cold and institutional against planting. We generally specify 2400K to 2700K, with high colour rendering so foliage stays green rather than grey.

Finally, put the garden on circuits. An intimate two-circuit evening setting and a fuller entertaining setting will be used constantly; a single on-off switch will not.