Avoid the common lighting mistakes

YOU’VE spruced up the patio and cleaned the garden furniture in preparation for spring and summer entertaining – but what about lighting your outdoor space? Top garden designer Andrew

Duff (andrewduffgardendesign. com), managing director of The Inchbald School of Design in London, warns there are pitfalls you’ll want to avoid.

WHAT ARE THE COMMON MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE?

“The main one is overlighting. If you overlight a garden, making it too bright, you lose the wonderful mystique of the space,” says Duff. “The market has become very sophisticated now and people are aware there is specialised garden lighting, and people are bringing in garden lighting experts to light the garden for them.”

ARE SOLAR LIGHTS ADEQUATE?

Duff says solar lighting won’t be appropriate for seriously illuminating steps, or other areas which need to be clearly visible. “Solar lighting is really gentle, just a subtle glow. You can’t use it for security or for lighting steps. It’s just little pulses of light through planting, in the same way we might use fairy lights or lanterns.”

WHAT LIGHTING SHOULD YOU USE FOR ENTERTAINING?

“We are seeing a massive return to the use of candles, storm lanterns on the table, soft romantic light we used to have before we overpowered our gardens. Make sure the area around the house is lit, but in a gentle wash, flooding the light out at ground level so it’s not on the people as such,” says Duff. “Get a qualified electrician – a good lighting supplier will give you the technical data you need – to ensure it’s all safe.

“In terms of tabletops, gone are the days of spotlights over the tables. Now we are using candle lights as we would inside the house.”

HOW WOULD YOU USE COLOURED LIGHTS?

“There’s so much colour in a garden and if it’s lit correctly, you don’t need coloured lights, says Duff.

HOW DO YOU BEST POSITION LIGHTS TO DO THAT?

“A lot of people feel that if you put the lighting under the tree, that’s the best thing, but actually it’s better to put it in front so that the light washes through it and produces an amazing shadow on whatever is behind. The thing to do is experiment,” suggests Duff.

HOW DO YOU LIGHT A WATER FEATURE?

“Pond lights, which go in the water, can uplight marginal plants. But consider what your pond is for,” says Duff. “If you want it to attract wildlife, then lighting is really going to put them off. I wouldn’t normally recommend lighting a pond at all.

“And of course if you light a pond in the water, you can see the bottom, which is never terribly attractive. But there is a range of solar lights which just float on the top, which can create a very pretty effect, almost like little stars.”