Buyer’s Guide to Garden Lighting

Buyer’s Guide to Garden Lighting

Creating breathtaking outdoor spaces with lighting requires more than just choosing the right fixtures. For high-end gardens, venues, and stately homes, lighting not only elevates the aesthetic but also ensures safety and usability.

Illuminating Trees and Garden Features

Trees: Uplighting trees creates a striking effect, drawing attention to their height and structure. Use the CORE ColourPoint to cast a soft glow upwards, emphasising the tree canopy while giving a sense of grandeur to the entire landscape. The CORE Compact is perfect for highlighting the trunks, especially for multi-stemmed or textured bark trees. Both products are battery-powered, making them flexible and easy to reposition for seasonal changes or events.

Features: Sculptures, water features, and garden ornaments also benefit from focused lighting. Place the CORE ColourPoint at a low angle to highlight intricate details, while adding dimension to flat or vertical surfaces. This method allows you to bring life to statues or water fountains, creating stunning focal points even in the darkest corners of the garden.

Tip: When lighting trees, always place the light source at different angles to avoid creating harsh shadows. For garden sculptures, consider using both side and uplighting to emphasise texture and form.

Water Features: Reflection and Movement

Water features, including ponds, fountains, and streams, take on a magical quality when illuminated at night. The CORE ColourPoint and CORE Compact can be strategically placed to enhance the reflective nature of water, bringing movement and light to still bodies of water. By angling the lights carefully, you can create dynamic visuals, where the water dances with light.

Safety Tip: Ensure that all lights around water features are positioned safely and securely. Battery-operated options from CORE Lighting eliminate the need for extensive wiring near water, reducing the risk of accidents.

Alfresco Dining: Warmth and Intimacy

Alfresco dining areas should be lit with a warm, inviting glow that enhances the atmosphere. Use CORE Festoons to string overhead lights across dining tables, creating a soft, romantic ambiance. These lights are perfect for evening dinners or garden parties, adding a festive touch to the occasion. For larger dining areas, combine festoons with CORE ColourPoint Minis to illuminate surrounding plants or features, adding depth and character to the space.

Tip: Warm, soft lighting in alfresco areas is key to creating a welcoming environment. Avoid bright, harsh lights that may detract from the dining experience.

Rooftop Gardens: Subtle Sophistication

Rooftop gardens require lighting that doesn’t overpower the space but enhances the greenery and architecture. The CORE Compact is perfect for uplighting plants and architectural elements, casting gentle light upwards to highlight these features. The CORE ColourPoint Mini offers focused lighting on pathways or seating areas, creating a calming atmosphere while maintaining visibility.

Tip: Focus on subtle lighting that highlights greenery and textures without cluttering the space. Rooftop gardens should feel serene, not overlit.

Under Cover Gardens: Creating Layers of Light

Covered gardens, pergolas, and patios benefit from layered lighting that draws attention to both plants and structures. Use the CORE ColourPoint to highlight key plants, trees, or architectural elements. Combine this with CORE Festoons, strung overhead, to create an even, soft glow throughout the space. This layered approach ensures your garden remains well-lit and inviting, regardless of the time of day.

Tip: When lighting covered spaces, avoid harsh spotlights. Instead, focus on softer lights that enhance the surroundings without overpowering them.

Smaller Gardens: Maximising Impact with Minimal Light

In smaller gardens, less is more. Use the CORE Compact as a spotlight to highlight a single tree or garden feature, creating a focal point without overwhelming the space. CORE Festoons are ideal for lighting up patios or seating areas, providing enough light for socialising while keeping the space cosy and intimate. Our festoon systems can have solar panels added to them to create lengths of festoon all recharged from the sun, but also powerful enough to illuminate areas. CORE PinPoint lights can be used for pinspotting small details, or zoomed out to provide low level lighting of specific shrubs. They are also useful for highlighting pathways and small trees..

Tip: Focus on one or two key elements, such as a tree or water feature, and use subtle lighting to draw attention without overpowering the small space.

Entrance Ways: Welcoming and Safe

The entrance to a garden or property is often the first impression guests will have, so make it welcoming and safe. Use the CORE Compact to light up pathways, driveways, or doorways. Adding CORE ColourPoint to spotlight key architectural features, such as pillars, statues, or a grand doorway, helps guide guests while enhancing the space’s aesthetic.

Safety Tip: Ensure pathways are evenly lit to prevent trips or falls. The portable nature of CORE products means you can position lights exactly where they are needed without the need for extensive wiring.

Terraces and Patios: Comfort and Elegance

Terraces and patios are the heart of any outdoor space, often used for dining or relaxing. Use the CORE ColourPoint or CORE Festoons to provide soft, ambient lighting that makes these areas feel inviting and luxurious. For larger terraces, use the CORE Compact to highlight plants, water features, or sculptures around the perimeter, adding depth and texture to the space. TablePoint lights can be used as a path light to put pools of light up a path, to bring light to the table at an outdoor dining setup. or just put into flower beds to create pools of light within the bed. They are ideal for visual effect or for practical lighting use. They can also be put inside other items such as globes, Moroccan lamps on the ground or plastic furniture. 

Tip: Break your terrace into zones, with different lighting intensities for dining, lounging, or decorative areas. This will create a dynamic but cohesive outdoor environment.

Seating Areas: Inviting and Relaxed

Seating areas should feel intimate and cosy, even in large outdoor spaces. The CORE ColourPoint Minis provide discreet yet effective lighting for seating areas, while CORE Festoons can be strung overhead to create a warm, festive atmosphere. This combination ensures seating areas are well-lit without detracting from the overall ambiance.

Tip: When lighting seating areas, avoid placing lights directly overhead or too close to eye level, as this can cause discomfort. Keep the light sources soft and indirect to enhance relaxation.

Safety and Practical Considerations for Professional Landscapers

When designing garden lighting for high-end estates, safety should always be a priority. CORE Lighting’s products are battery-powered, eliminating the need for extensive wiring that could pose a risk, especially around water features. This makes them ideal for temporary or permanent installations. Ensure that lighting is installed at safe distances from pathways, and avoid placing fixtures in areas where they could cause glare or tripping hazards.

Maintenance Tip: Choose products like those from CORE Lighting, which are built for durability in outdoor conditions. Regularly inspect lights for dirt and damage to ensure longevity and consistent performance.

Meet CORE Lighting at FutureScape Expo 2024

CORE Lighting will be showcasing its innovative outdoor lighting solutions at the FutureScape Expo 2024 on 15-16 October at ExCeL London. As the premier event for landscape and garden professionals, FutureScape offers the opportunity to explore cutting-edge products like the CORE Compact, CORE ColourPoint, and CORE Festoons, and discover how they can elevate outdoor spaces from stately homes to luxury venues.

For more details on CORE Lighting’s product range, visit here. To learn more about FutureScape Expo, click here.