Landscape lighting can shine the spotlight on your landscaping. In fact, some aspects of your landscaping take on a beauty at night, if properly illuminated. Landscape lighting also improves nighttime safety and security, lighting up walkways and scaring burglars.

Landscaping isn’t just good looks; it can help your home sell faster and increase its total value. If you’re selling your house now or later, a good looking landscape is one of the main things a buyer will be looking for. Studies have shown that an attractive landscaping makes a home sell faster.

Here are some steps on landscaping that will help you start:

1. Plot-

Try drawing a simple picture of your yard including your house, streets, appliances, benches, driveways

Choose places off of this picture to determine where potential things can go like vegetable gardens, flowers, lawns, playgrounds.

Determine if the spots would be good according to the different times of weather. Think of places that need good wind or rain protection, think about if your place is good for drainage or if something will affect your house.

2. Needs-

Determine if special parts to your house are right and accessible like walkways, driveways, parking, playgrounds, and doors!

Think about storage for garden stuff, extra parking and cement for a perhaps small basketball court.

Jot down all other needs you can think of.

3. Designing-

Consider group planting and landscape features like the plants next door or same design of patio next door.

The color of your plantings should complement your home’s color

Think about trees, shrubs, textures, how the foliage will look year – round.

4. Building-

Look for professionals in landscaping that can help you choose and locate things like new trees, shrubs, ground covers

Locate deciduous trees where you will benefit from shade and relaxation

Avoid damaged plants

5. Maintain-

Make sure you have a watering system that gives all your plants water

Have good fertilizing schedules and bring everything to highest potential

Keep shrubs and trees pruned

6. Improve-

A good landscape always progresses, add new things every season or so.

Add in some good décor like fountains, art, or benches

Here are some helpful definitions of common lighting techniques used in landscape lighting and mentions in this section of the guide. Use one or more of them to achieve a look that’s natural and multi-dimensional.

Down Lighting – shines light down from large trees or eaves to focus on a particular object and achieve a natural look that simulates sunlight or moonlight.

Up Lighting – places fixtures in the ground and directs light upward to a create a dramatic effect that accentuates the texture of leaves on trees or the detail in a trellis or archway.

Front Lighting – positions light sources in front of an object to highlight important features and details.

Back Lighting – illuminates objects or plants from the back to reveal their shape and form while decreasing texture and eliminating detail.

Side Lighting – aims the light from the side to emphasize texture and create strong shadows.

Area Lighting – uses a floodlight or another source of wide light to illuminate large areas for evening entertaining.

Cross Lighting – lights and accentuates certain objects or areas, like statues or gardens, from two or more points.

Grazing – positions the light source close to a wall or the bark of a tree to bring out its texture.

Safety Lighting – provides light for certain areas, like paths, decks or steps, so people can navigate safely.

Outdoor lighting is very special to your garden. It will brighten it up during the night and keep thing safe so no one will trip or fall in the dark. You can experiment with many different types of lights such as, lanterns, florescent lights, solar lights, ect.

Brighten up your garden with a lot of outdoor lighting and it will make you really happy and your garden more beautiful.