One of the many great features of a smart home is that it gives you elevated control over your lighting. Smart homes can control both natural and electric lighting,...
Garden lighting is often unjustly overlooked. After all, you most likely to actually spend time in your garden during the day, or in warmer weather when it gets dark much later. But the task of lighting your garden is one that is immensely rewarding. Even the most simple of gardens can be enhanced by carefully planned lighting.
In the summer, warm evenings can be spent comfortably beside well-lit borders, with no need to hurry inside as it gets dark. Enjoy the beauty of your flowers and foliage long after sunset.
On colder nights, instead of staring out of the window into blackness, you can gaze at shadows cast by the dark branches of bare trees, or cherry blossoms illuminated by gentle light.
Garden lighting also makes entertaining a breeze. Guests at an evening dinner party can wander outside without a second thought, admiring your blooms or strolling down a path. Children can play outside without worries about trips and falls.
Smart controls take garden lighting to the next level. Smart lighting creates moods and ambiance with ease, and can be set up to turn on and off automatically.
The benefits of smart lighting for your garden
In a smart home, all your building services - lighting, heat, ventilation etc. - are connected. Your garden lighting becomes part of your personal network, grouped together with your property to make control as easy as possible.
Smart lighting in the garden is energy efficient and cost-effective. Use motion sensors to set up automatic lighting to turn on when you step into the garden. Program the lights to turn off after a certain time to save energy.
This kind of lighting is ideal for creating lighting scenes. As well as in the house, these can be deployed extremely effectively in the garden. These lighting scenes are set up beforehand and are then automatic - at the press of button you can deliver the perfect autumnal lighting scene. Keep the children safe from stumbles by having the lights turned up bright, create atmosphere with low lighting around a pond, or illuminate a pathway to take a leafy walk.
Smart controls can be used with any lights and any light fittings.
How can I light my garden?
Garden designer Matthew Wilson makes some general suggestions, such as avoiding ‘coloured, harsh blue, or bright white lights’ which can look ‘garish’, and thinking about how the fixtures look by day as well as night. Here are a few ideas which will make your garden gorgeous all year round.
1. Illuminate your trees
If you enjoy doing it at Christmas, why not give it a try all year round? Casting light on unusual leaf shapes or structures created by the branches could reveal interesting shadows. Try ‘uplighting’ your trees by placing lights at the base to shine up the trunk. According to the website Gardening Know How, lights at the base of the trunk work best with ‘open, leafy structures’, whereas if you have a tree with a ‘tight, compact silhouette’ you should place the lights farther from the trunk. Imagine that the trees are sculptures or pieces of modern art. Show off their natural beauty, or expose the remarkable and unexpected. Smart lighting makes it easy - stay cosy in your kitchen as you turn on the lights outside.
2. Brighten walkways
There are few things more relaxing than taking a walk in the open air. With smart lighting, the illumination of your paths can be set up easily and automatically. Place shielded lighting fixtures in large trees to produce a more natural effect.
3. Cast light on water features
If you’ve ever admired the sunset over the sea, or moonlight on a river, illuminating a water feature in your garden is the perfect design idea. From the more extravagant features, such as a fountain, to a simple pond, smart controls can link the lighting with the water feature and with your home, creating easy-to-use connectivity and clarity.
4. Give your garden a glow-up
As we’ve discussed, beautiful lighting can really make a different to any object. So be creative! Old jars and vases can take on a new life when lit up with warm yellow light. Antique and charity shops are be a great place to find quirky glassware that will become a feature piece in your garden. Use smart lighting to achieve elevated control over all the lighting in your garden.
5. Stick with simplicity
Sometimes a DIY approach can produce a more homemade charm. Opt for smaller lights to create a intimate and homely feel that combines comfort with the efficiency of smart lighting. Drape fairy lights through trees, or string up bare bulbs above a table. Candles - whether real or battery operated - look lovely inside jam jars, which you can arrange around seating or tie on branches.
There’s so many options available if you want to light your garden, and smart controls can work in tandem with every feature, providing efficiency, elegance, convenience and ambiance. Smart lighting is the innovate choice for anyone to wants to create a garden that is exquisite day and night.
