Outdoor lighting features are an essential part of your garden design, whether you prefer mains powered or solar landscape lights.

Outdoor lighting features can really highlight the most attractive elements of your garden design. If you take the time to choose the right fixtures, and design your landscape lighting plan carefully, you can achieve some truly beautiful results which will be a pleasure to look at for years to come. You don’t need to be a garden design expert to achieve a professional look with your outdoor lighting features, whether you’re using mains powered or solar landscape lights. Both are very safe and easy to install, for anyone with a few basic carpentry, gardening and electrical skills. The lighting fixtures and all of the necessary accessories are available as kits from any good home hardware or outdoor lighting supplier near you or online.

Choosing outdoor lighting features.

You might find the huge range of products available a little overwhelming. Perhaps the first thing to consider when choosing fixtures is whether you want the lights to work as garden design features in themselves, or whether you want them to blend into the landscape. If you choose to use one or more beautiful, sculptural lights as garden design features, think about whether a modern or traditional style would suit your outdoor decor best.

Another choice to make is whether you want to use mains powered or solar landscape lights. Mains powered lights require a transformer, and an outdoor electrical receptacle to plug it into. The lighting products you buy will normally come with complete installation instructions, or you can ask your outdoor lighting supplier for advice. If you’re in any doubt, have a professional electrician do the job for you. Because most outdoor lighting fixtures work on a low voltage system, the cables only need to be buried a few inches into the soil, or simply covered with mulch in a garden bed.

Solar landscape lights are even easier to install, because transformers and cables aren’t necessary. You simply set up the light fixture, and position the solar panel where it will receive the maximum amount of sunlight during the day. From there you only need to connect the battery and the controller, and set the timer if there is one.