Now that spring and summer are approaching it is starting to be that time where you are making your plans on what to do with your yard this year. Whether you are just looking into some yard decorations, looking for just solar powered landscape lighting, or you are really going all out with a fancy flower garden, it is important to plan in advance. This is the only way to make sure that you are covering all bases and getting exactly what you want. It will also give you the time needed to purchase everything in advance so that you are ready to go as soon as the weather breaks and it is time to set everything up for the new season.

When you are finished deciding where you are going to plant your greenery and your flowers, it is time to decide where you are going to place your lighting. Light placement is very important in order to make sure that you are giving the right effect for your garden or yard area. Many people find the placement of lighting in the yard frustrating because of the electrical end of it all. But thankfully you no longer have to deal with such issues. Because of the technology of solar power, people are now able to get the lights they want outside without the hassle of power cords and an increased electric bill.

Solar powered landscape lighting is something that is certainly worth checking into. The lighting that is given off is just as good as any electrical lighting system that your neighbors have in place. The only difference is that you will be saving yourself money on your monthly electric bills and you will be using the planet's natural resources instead of becoming part of the problem.

When you are shopping for these solar powered lights there are going to be some things that you will want to keep in mind. Consider the brand that you are looking at. Not all solar lights are created equally. If you go too cheap then you may find that you are not given the quality of light that you would have liked to have. This does not mean that you have to go with the most expensive though. Research the brands and the models before making your purchase and you should have no problem.

It is also important to check and see just how long the lights will run off of a single day's charge. This will tell you how long you can expect your lights to shine throughout the night. Also, make sure that you are researching into what will happen on rainy days where the sun is not at its brightest. Will you still have enough of a charge to get you through the night? Because of such days it is important to make sure that you are going with solar powered landscape lighting that has a battery backup in order to have continuous lighting throughout the night. Keep researching all of your different options and you will eventually come across the best choice for you.

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You spend all that time creating a masterpiece garden that the neighbors will envy. Ooops. You just realize you forgot to install the landscape lighting. The best time to plan a good landscape lighting design is when you are planning your garden layout.

Landscape lighting design can be a simple lighting layout or a work of art blending nature with artificial light, incorporating color, shape and texture. You choose. What looks ordinary and dull during the day can be transformed into rich color during the darker hours of night. The nature of landscape lighting demands versatility. With a wide variety of different surfaces and objects to be illuminated the type of light and its placement needs to be considered very carefully.

Gather Your Ideas
Go over your garden design and decide on the objects, plants or trees you want to highlight with. If you have one prominent feature in one part of the garden such as a large tree or a sculpture then you can concentrate your lighting on that object and have low level ground lighting surrounding it in the rest of the garden. On the other hand you may decide just to scatter general low level ground lighting in amongst plants of the same height which will create a flat effect but will give you a rainbow of color.

Floodlight or Spotlight
To help you with your landscape lighting design there are typically two lamp and reflector types. The wide angle lenses are used to flood a surface with a wash of light where a narrow angled lens is used for laser-like accuracy to put a spot of light on an object.
Flood lighting works best by positioning it under leafy shrubs and trees. By doing this the floodlight will create shadows within the foliage and spill out onto surrounding plants. If you are trying to light a very large tree you may consider several floodlights to get an even spread of light.
Spotlights work best if they are correctly positioned and aimed at the feature you are trying to highlight. A good way to get this right is to temporarily connect the spotlight and move it backwards and forwards until the right amount of light is highlighting the feature.

Color
Color is an important consideration for any landscape lighting design. The most common source of light is white light. When white light is used it generally brings out the true color of the surrounding plants and objects because it contains all the visible colors. By using colored filters or sleeves attached to the light fitting, colored light can be used to emphasize the natural color of the surrounding plant foliage. Colors such as yellow are useful to use as it is a warm color and brings out the best in the wood of trunks and branches. Reds and Blues are also very popular colors to use.

Textures with Water.
Nothing in nature is smooth or symmetrical. With this fact in mind, light that is aimed at an angle onto rough textured surfaces can play an important part to your landscape lighting design. With the added element of moving water such as a fountain or waterfall, flickering shadows and reflections can be created. These are very soothing to the viewer.

Glare. To See and not be seen.
When locating the in ground light fittings in your garden try and hide them away from view by using rocks or other features. There is nothing worse than ruining a perfectly good landscape lighting design by having all of your light fittings visible. Normally the light source or lamp of the fitting is not guarded and will create glare. Avoid this at all cost.

By: Bob B Taylor

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Bob Taylor is a successful webmaster and publisher of www.lightingway.com If you would like to learn more about the subject of landscape lighting design please visit www.lightingway.com/

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