The Best Landscape Lighting

Buying Guide

When you spend so much of your time making your yard and lawn look beautiful, make sure to show off that hard work with the best landscape lighting. There are countless types of lights to use throughout the yard and it takes a little bit of research to discover what will work best. After taking stock of what types of bushes, trees and gardens you have around the lawn, find what lights you will need with this simple guide below.

Before deciding which light works best for your different landscape features, let’s look at the different types of lighting for the yard. The most common are garden, bullet, flood, wash, well and downlights. A garden light is typically 18 to 24 inches tall with a canopy light that reflects light downward. Wash lights are low-to-the-ground lights with big round faces that shine directly on an object. Bullet lights are also low to the ground but produce a narrow beam of light. For a discreet lighting option, a well light is one that sits in the ground and is usually covered with a durable setting to withstand weather. For inconspicuous lighting, a downlight is a small spigot-like light that features an angled opening for a long display of light. Downlights are often spiked into a tree or branches to illuminate any features below such as a pathway or bench. When lighting a large area, you’ll want a floodlight. These are typically used when a bright light is needed to cover a wide angle of 40 degrees or more such as the façade of a house.

There are a variety of landscape lights that will accentuate the different aspects of your yard in the best way. For trees, you will want to shine light on the trunk or features below the tree. To do this, you will have the best luck with a well, bullet or floodlight. These types of lights will throw a wide range of lighting for the large span of the tree limbs. In the garden beds, you’ll want the garden lights evenly spaced between plants to create separation between the different types. You’ll find some landscape lights are more ideal for garden beds with stake stands, as they provide a soft glow. To illuminate your house from the exterior, bullet or wash lights are best for highlighting small areas while floodlights are best for large areas.

When deciding whether to get LEDs, halogen or solar for your landscape lighting, you must weigh the pros and cons. LED lights can last roughly 40,000 hours or an equivalent of 20 years, while halogen lights last an average of two years. If you’re trying to keep your electric bill low, then solar is your best bet, but they aren’t as reliable, whereas LEDs are your reliable option with each light only using 1 to 11 watts. The LEDs use less power, need a smaller transformer and reduce maintenance. The only downside to using LEDs is the upfront cost. They are almost ten times the cost of halogen lights so you will not see your savings for quite a few years. For better value,  get a multi-pack such as the MEIKIEE 7W LED Landscape Lights. This set is great for facades, pathways, or trees and creates a uniform look throughout your property while saving on your electric bill.

Make your exterior as beautiful as your interior with outstanding landscape lighting. Be creative and play around with different options to get the look you like. Find quality and value in sets and save yourself money and time when you look into the best landscape lighting available.

• If you need an upgraded receptacle for the transformer, hire an electrician to install it.
• To determine the size transformer you’ll need, take the total watts used by the lights and multiply it by 1.25.
• You can control your landscape lighting with timers, manual fobs or hardwired switches (which need to be installed by an electrician).
• When laying cables, it is mandatory to bury the cables a minimum of 6 inches deep. Plastic anchors will help to keep the cables below the surface and at an even 6 inches the entire length of the path.