O
Fixtures that allow you to control the beam can be flexible enough to uplight up to the crown of a tree or change the beam angle to spread across several bushes. Between the two angle extremes, the beam has infinite adjustment. “Some of the products are control- lable by an app. They’re quite user- friendly; however, with more tech- nology built into the lights, the more expensive the product becomes — but there’s lots of flexibility in the marketplace,” he says. It’s important to talk to a profes- sional because there is so much out there, and they can help you quickly find what you need. “You can do some research online and look at landscape lighting companies. Some of them will have application shots that will show you what the lights do,” he says. You can get some ideas, but Simkin says coming in with a plan or some pictures of your garden can be really helpful. “Sometimes people might want to go crazy and light the whole
ne reason to light the garden at night is to see some colour.
“If you’re lighting your lawn, it’s dark green against dark sky, so there’s really no contrast. Things that have colour are flowers and gardens, and they can be pretty at night if they’re done well,” says Simon Simkin, president of Superlite Lighting Ltd. Lighting design follows layout. If there are paths through the garden, some of the lighting could be pathway lighting to accentuate the walkway. “Some pathway lighting could be placed in and around shrubs and flowers to highlight them. You could also uplight into trees or bushes,” Simkin says. “And you could graze across low-rise flowers with an accent light on the ground. The idea is to highlight some of it without lighting all of it because if you don’t have some dark to define the light, every- thing just goes flat — there’s no depth and no ambiance.”
Getting the right amount of light into the right places is paramount.
bed at the start. I’ll tell them to wait because what you’re planting now is going to grow,” he says. “Start smaller, and as things grow, you’ll get a better feel for what you want to achieve.” This way, the lighting budget can be stretched over time, allowing the homeowner to completely redesign the garden if something doesn’t work out. And the flexibility of low-voltage lighting systems allows you to move or re-purpose things.
A HomeYouWill Love and Live In, Longer
204-509-7151 Office@manakhomes.com | ManakHomes.com
SPRING 2025 PARADE of HOMES 113
Powered by FlippingBook