Treating your garden as an outdoor room is now a central concept to garden design. Your garden is a valuable extra space so why should you forget it once its dark. Night is the time when you can choose what should be seen and what should remain behind the scene.

Lighting reverses the daylight effect and extends the hours of the day for your garden.
Outdoor lighting can be more dramatic than indoor illumination. Dramatic directional lighting gives opportunities to create a fantasy scene. In addition to providing a visual panorama, lighting alters the way outdoor space is used. A combination of ornamental and functional lighting can change the feel of even the most mundane space to create a totally different experience. Creative garden lighting concentrates on subtle schemes that create atmosphere and enhance the planting, garden features, and architecture providing stimulating night-time vistas. But remember fittings come last. The aim is to create the atmosphere where fittings are invisible and as far as possible there is no glare. Suitable lighting serves many purposes. Not only does it work as a theft deterrent but it can also give you a room to entertain, read or enjoy alfresco dinning. Perhaps you would like to enjoy your beautiful specimen planting or statues or the water feature at night too, just in a different light. Even the simplest of feature in a garden when lit properly can breath a new life to the outdoors.
The creative use of light and shadow is the key to achieving good results. Excessive lighting and indiscriminate use of floodlights is the most common error that results in garish illumination and a flat perspective. To be able to design an effective lighting system for your outdoor begin by understanding the role you want lights to play in the use and enjoyment of the exterior.

Depending on your needs lighting can be of various types. Ornamental lighting mainly lights up garden features that will increase the visual appeal. Remembering what not to light is as important as remembering what to light. Amenity lighting is done to ensure safety and serve practical purposes. Task lighting makes it possible to carry out specific jobs such as cooking and barbecue. Access lighting enables safe movement around the paths and steps. Security lighting deters intruders, creates illusion of occupation and reassures homeowners. Of course there may be overlapping of functions by certain lighting.

To determine your lighting needs begin with what you want to achieve. In case of ornamental lighting a good start is to focus on what effects you want to achieve and in which areas you want to apply it. Ask do I want to see lighting only when I am in the garden or from inside too, or both, if so then from which room? Do I want a welcoming view of the house? These may seem obvious but most homeowners see lighting in a limited perspective and miss significant potentials. Ornamental lighting is more than creating drama. Its main aim is to create a balanced view that is easy on the eye.

The next step is to establish viewpoints from which these areas of the garden and the features within them may be seen. If possible keep separate controls to allow lighting up as much as needed. Now determine the need points for amenity lighting that will enable you to perform a range of functions ranging from parking your car to inserting the key in the door. Area lighting may also serve this purpose. As the name implies area lighting diffuses light all around and downwards. Here choose a fixture style to reflect the style of your house. Floodlights are not a good choice and should be left to the stadiums. If you plan to do a barbecue at night with friends then you will need some task lighting at your work counter. Access lighting mainly guides movement but can also become ornamental if placed strategically around the vegetation or other features in the path. Nowhere is good lighting more important than lighting for access and safety for the sake of the homeowner and the visitor. Safety should be assessed from two viewpoints, one of the homeowner who knows the area and other a visitor who is unknown to the obstacles in the area.

Once garden lighting is installed the window opening into the garden becomes a frame to view the illuminated garden. But it will work only if there is balance between indoor and outdoor lighting. Insufficient outdoor lighting creates a black mirror effect where you will see your own reflection and that of the room around. Therefore outdoor lighting should be brighter from interior. Perhaps choosing dimmers in interior lighting can ensure that they do not become too bright when the mood is to enjoy garden illumination. Always set lighting priorities and aim to create a balance so that light and dark are easy on the eye. Plan to accommodate personal and seasonal variations by creating flexible lighting allowed by separate controls. When choosing fixtures select attractive ones where needed and keep as unobtrusive as possible for the most. Remember it is about the light not the fixture.
Give a new light to your outdoors and enjoy the experience.