For atmospheric evenings and increased safety in the garden

The garden is our retreat. Here we gather with friends, find relaxation, recharge our energy, and enjoy nature. It is our outdoor living space that we like to use all year round and at all times of the day. To create a cosy atmosphere even in the evenings, you can rely on a well-thought-out lighting concept. It's important to use energy-efficient light sources effectively while also considering neighbours and wildlife. We'll show you 11 tips on what aspects to consider in planning and which techniques you can use.

Key aspects of garden lighting include:

1. Weatherproof outdoor lights
2. LED technology and light intensity for outdoor use
3. Installation tips and lighting systems
4. Adequate brightness to enhance safety
5. Creating a welcoming ambiance with strategic lighting placement
6. Illuminating trees, shrubs, flowerbeds, and walls
7. Lighting considerations for water features such as pools and ponds
8. Portable light sources for the garden
9. Energy-saving solar technology
10. Insect-friendly lighting options
11. Being mindful of neighbours

Weatherproof outdoor lights

Outdoor lights are exposed to moisture, dust, and dirt, so they need adequate protection against these elements. Therefore, in the garden, you should only use lights that have an appropriate protection class, known as the IP protection class. The required protection class for your garden lights depends on their intended location. For example, outdoor wall lights located at the entrance or next to the back door leading to the garden should have at least IP protection class 44. This means that the lights are protected against the ingress of foreign objects larger than 1 mm and against splashing water. Ground spotlights and garden spotlights need even better protection against dust and water and should have IP protection classes 65 or 67. If you want to illuminate your garden pond or pool, you need to choose lights that can function permanently underwater and are marked with protection class 68.

IP (Ingress Protection)

LED technology and light intensity for outdoor use

Outdoor lights are typically equipped with modern LED technology nowadays. LEDs consume much less electricity than incandescent bulbs and have a long lifespan. LED lights from reputable brands can achieve several tens of thousands of hours of burn time. However, make sure that the LEDs in your outdoor lights are replaceable so that you don't have to discard the entire fixture if one diode stops working.

LED technology is highly suitable for your garden lighting plan because you can use it with low-voltage systems. You can install a 12V low-voltage system yourself. However, if you initially want to equip your garden with 230V energy columns, you'll need to entrust the installation of the high-voltage cables to an electrical specialist. The power cables must be buried at least 60 cm deep in the ground and should ideally be five-core. At the professionally constructed energy column, which serves as a power distributor, you can then connect your outdoor lights via sockets and a low-voltage transformer that regulates the voltage down to 12 volts.

When selecting lights, pay attention to the light colour of the LEDs. With modern LED bulbs, light brightness is measured not in watts but in lumens (lm). For outdoor use, such as illuminating a terrace or a house wall, light sources that are 400 to 600 lumens strong are suitable. This is equivalent to a wattage of approximately 40 watts. However, if you want to brightly illuminate a driveway, you should install spotlights with 1000 to 1500 lumens. This corresponds to about 100 watts. Such strong light sources are not suitable for the atmospheric lighting design of the garden, but rather serve safety purposes and should only be switched on briefly and coupled with a motion sensor.

Installation tips and lighting systems

If you prefer a professional touch, you can equip your garden with a cohesive lighting system. If it operates on low voltage, you can install it yourself, starting from existing energy columns. Choose a mix of ground spotlights, spotlights, light strips, and pedestal lights to effectively showcase your garden.

Individual lights can be controlled or dimmed using switches or wireless switches. Various manufacturers also offer integration into smart home systems. Additionally, colour-changing options between RGB colours and white are possible, allowing you to immerse your evening garden in a unique lighting environment. It's best to inquire about the options at specialised retailers.

When laying a low-voltage system, ensure that the thin cables, while not necessarily needing to be buried underground, should still be protected from damage. If you've memorised the cable layout or marked it on your garden plan, you can conceal the cables with mulch, ground cover plants, or gravel. If you need to locate the buried cables, the Truvo by Bosch can assist you in locating them up to a depth of 5 cm.
 

Adequate brightness to enhance safety

By illuminating your garden, you ensure greater safety. Paths to the house, the driveway, or the entrance should be illuminated enough in darkness to be safely navigated. Trip hazards such as steps or other ledges should be visible. You can use lamps with cold white light for this purpose, as they make even the smallest details visible. It's advisable to work with motion sensors so that illumination is not constant. Also, remember to equip poorly visible areas around the house with light sources to deter burglars.

For your garden paths, bollard lights that emit light downwards are suitable. You can also install ground spotlights but be careful that they do not cause glare. Light tubes, also called strip lights, look modern and can be installed, for example, at the edge of gravel paths. The light lines impressively trace the path at night and appear like small, bright rivers meandering through your garden.

Creating a welcoming ambiance with strategic lighting placement

Just as important as safety is the comfort factor when it comes to lighting: outdoor light sources enhance the garden and make it enjoyable in the dark. However, this doesn't mean that it should be fully illuminated after sunset, but rather that individual light points are placed strategically, and only small areas are highlighted. A successful lighting system plays with the contrasts between light and shadow.

Outdoor lighting isn't just beautiful to look at in the summer when you spend your evenings outside, but also in winter when you mostly view the garden from inside the house. If the outdoor area is unlit, looking out the window reveals a black void, and your garden disappears into nothingness. However, if individual trees and shrubs or the garden sheds are illuminated, you can enjoy a wintry garden landscape while sitting on the sofa with a hot cup of tea.

Tip: If you also illuminate areas at the back of your garden, the garden will gain an intense spatial effect, and the view from the window will become even more impressive. You should then only lightly illuminate the terrace directly behind the window so that the light sources in the rear part of the garden are also perceptible.
 

Illuminating trees, shrubs, flowerbeds, and walls

The structures of leaves and the picturesque growth forms of trees and shrubs are beautifully highlighted when the plants are illuminated from below with ground spots or ground-mounted spotlights with stakes. Recessed ground lights have the advantage of integrating almost invisibly into the garden design during the day. They shine directly upwards and should not be used in the immediate vicinity of seating areas or paths, as their light could cause glare. Flexibility in orientation is provided by surface-mounted ground spotlights and stakes, whose direction can be adjusted.

If you want to illuminate a wide tree or shrub, the light emission angle should be about 40 degrees. For slimmer trees, an emission angle of about 20 degrees is suitable. You can also illuminate walls or beautiful fences. The structure of a natural stone wall, for example, is highlighted excellently through indirect lighting with ground spots or a light strip.

Herbaceous beds, rose borders, or ornamental grasses can also be bathed in magical light with suitable lighting. In flower beds, it's best to place ground-mounted spotlights so that you can illuminate different plants depending on the season: in spring, for example, you can light up tulips and daffodils. In summer, roses take centre stage, and in autumn, illuminated ornamental grasses grace the evening garden stage.

You can also decorate your flower beds with decorative light balls or other luminous objects. The motto “less is more” applies here. A larger individual object or a small decorative group usually looks better than too many light points, which can make the flower bed appear restless.

Lighting considerations for water features such as pools and ponds

If you want to enjoy the magical effect of your pool or pond at night, you can install light sources in the water and around the edge. Flowing water such as waterfalls, water features, bubbling stones, streams, or waterspouts also lend themselves to exciting light installations. For example, you can use ground-mounted spotlights to illuminate waterfalls or bubbling stones. Light strips work well for indirect lighting around waterspouts. Underwater spotlights can also be used to illuminate your pond or pool. These lights must have an IP protection class of 68.

When illuminating ponds underwater, make sure to only turn them on for a short time in the evening to avoid disturbing the animal and insect life unnecessarily.

Portable light sources for the garden

Especially for spot lighting in seating areas, for a cosy evening in the garden lounge or a barbecue with friends, mobile lighting solutions are ideal. Many table lamps, portable light elements, or even larger floor lamps are now powered by rechargeable batteries, which can be recharged, for example, via USB connection. Mobile solar lights can also be used as flexible light sources. With the UniversalLamp 18, you have a dimmable lamp for spontaneous use in your garden if you want to finish a task but the daylight is disappearing before you have finished.

Energy-saving solar technology

You can use solar-powered lights both as portable light sources and in your fixed garden lighting. For example, there are outdoor wall lights that operate with solar technology. However, they need to be placed in sun-exposed areas so that the batteries can recharge during the day. On the north side of the house, daylight usually isn't sufficient for adequate charging. If a solar light is equipped with a separate solar panel, you should always orient this panel to the south and ensure that it is not shaded by trees and shrubs. Occasionally, you should clean the panel from dust and dirt to keep it operational.

Insect-friendly lighting options

Insects are attracted to light, especially cold light. Constantly circling around the light source, they can exhaust themselves, become easy prey for predators, or end up inside light fixtures where they may burn or starve. In recent years, many nocturnal insect species in Europe have become extinct.

To illuminate your garden in an insect-friendly manner, opt for lamps that emit warm white light and are dimmable – this is also more pleasant for you. Insects are less attracted to light sources in the range of 1500 to 2700 K because this light spectrum is barely visible to them. Light intensities above 3000 K, however, strongly attract insects.

There are now lights available that have a mode with insect-friendly light and will only transition to a higher intensity light when motion is detected. This would be a very insect-friendly lighting option, for example, at the entrance area of ​​your house.

Also, be mindful not to leave your garden lights on all night. Only illuminate the light sources used for aesthetic purposes during the time they are needed. Ultimately, excessive artificial light also disturbs the day-night cycles of birds, hedgehogs, and other creatures. The issue of “light pollution” or light smog is also relevant to human sleep patterns – so please don't overdo it.

Being mindful of neighbours

When positioning your garden lighting, ensure that your neighbours are not disturbed by the light sources. An illuminated hedge near the property boundary may lead to disputes, just as a spotlight shining directly into your neighbours' living room or bedroom. Thoughtful and considerate placement of the light sources can prevent conflicts. After all, your garden illumination should bring you joy and not cause trouble.

If you've now had a lightbulb moment and are eager to delve into the topic of lighting, you can get creative indoors with our 5 ideas!

If you want to know more about when various gardening tasks need to be done, you can consult our garden calendar, which provides the right timing for all essential activities.