Landscape design - the need to design an attractive site. One of the important techniques is the illumination of trees and shrubs. Such manipulations allow you to give the night landscape an attractive look and a great mood. When decorating any site, plants are placed in a central place, which are often not visible in the dark. But in order to maintain the attractiveness of the entire backyard and various decorative plantings, designers use the illumination of trees. It allows you to emphasize all the highlights of the design.
Main tasks and types of garden lighting
Landscape design includes many important components, among which one of the first places is the lighting of the territory. All lighting elements can be divided into 2 categories: decorative and functional.
Functional or utility lighting
Functional outdoor lighting is designedfor safe movement around the territory at night. This includes the front and entrance area, the main paths in the garden. When designing functional lighting, be sure to consider the following factors:
- Lighting devices must be arranged in such a way that the boundaries of the site are visible. This contributes to psychological comfort.
- Equipment must be of high quality, durable, frost-resistant, but simple and easy to use.
- It is imperative to maintain harmony between the lighting of the paths and other garden objects. After all, it is rather inconvenient to move first along a supposedly illuminated path to the entrance to a building with subdued light. It is more comfortable to go from a less lit place to a light object. Good lighting should be located in accent places - gazebos, building facade, decorative compositions.
Decorative lighting
A night garden can be extraordinarily beautiful. Properly organized, thoughtful lighting can create a special charm for a personal plot. In this way, you can transform the unique beauty of the surrounding nature beyond recognition, which is fundamentally different from the daytime image of the garden.
The main task of decorative lighting is to embellish the territory, to emphasize all the advantages of plants, which we often do not notice during the day. But you should also consider the following points:
- A spacious area can be zoned using lighting fixtures. A small garden can, on the contrary, be visually expandedin this manner. When choosing lighting devices, it should be borne in mind that cold light visually moves objects away, and warm light brings them closer.
- Lighting fixtures in recreation areas are best chosen with soft diffused light. So you can create an atmosphere of comfort and warmth.
- Would you like to use multi-colored lamps to illuminate the area? Then give preference to 2-3 colors that will harmoniously complement each other. Carefully choose white bright light. It can take the life out of your garden. You should also be careful with brown and red light.
- LED strips, garlands will help create a holiday atmosphere. They should be used in doses so as not to oversaturate the space. Experts recommend using such lighting elements for individual objects.
Light Benefits
It is necessary to start lighting plants immediately after completing all the work to improve the territory. All lush greenery must be highlighted. This is a necessary and easy task. The main thing is to choose the right lighting fixtures and place them in the right place.
Lighting alleys, gardens and trees can solve, as we have already learned, several tasks at once:
- Decorative, aesthetic. Good light perfectly decorates the backyard area with the right placement of accents.
- Functional. Illumination of the territory allows you to navigate well in space.
There are several options for lighting home gardens. Everyone knows that street lighting of trees refers to landscape lighting. Therefore, ideally, it should be combined with other light sources.
Ways to mount tree lighting
Today, there are many options for highlighting trees. But from the whole variety, 3 most common methods of mounting lighting fixtures are distinguished:
- Light sources are placed in the foliage. In this case, lamps of different colors are often used - belt-light.
- Illumination of plants occurs with the help of lamps and spotlights. The latter are suspended from special supports or placed on the ground. Lamps are often placed on the ground. Their design is reliably protected from moisture.
- LED lighting is especially relevant during the New Year holidays. They use play-light, clip-light, etc. lights
All lighting fixtures must be securely fastened. Some of them are on the ground, supports, neighboring structures, while others are on crowns and trunks.
Features of lighting trees with spotlights
A suitable way to illuminate trees with searchlights is selected depending on the chosen goal. For example, if the main goal is to emphasize the texture, strength and beauty of a tree trunk, then the lighting device must be placed on the ground closer to the trunk. In addition, it is better to choose cold white light. Such decorative lighting from the bottom up for trees with several trunks looks fantastically beautiful.
Trees with a dense crownor ate better to illuminate from afar. Such large-sized trees can demonstrate their grandeur and beauty. If they are illuminated from different sides from the lawn with several spotlights, you can get an incredible picture at night. Often, specialists use about 3 spotlights.
If you happen to be the proud owner of a large garden, you can use several types of tree illumination with LED, silhouette spotlights. To do this, it is enough to install a lighting device behind a bush or behind a tree. This way of lighting creates a romantic atmosphere.
Some designers use a method of illuminating a plant from the inside. To do this, the lighting device is installed in the center of the bush. When illuminating a tree, one of the most attractive and aesthetic branches is chosen. It should also be noted that this method provides only partial illumination of a certain fragment of the plant.
Thinking of romantic landscapes at night, do not forget that during the day the trees will look very different. Therefore, you should carefully consider all the ways of supplying power to the spotlights. Everything should be aesthetically pleasing and attractive.
Illumination with lanterns
The traditional and familiar way of lighting is to illuminate the trees from above. For this, flashlights are often used. It is mounted on a reliable and stable support. Often use LED or metal halide spotlights.
Tall, voluminous trees are hard enough to light from above. Therefore, oftenilluminate the lower part of the crown of the plant. Sometimes a beam of light is directed from the lawn to a specific part of the plant.
Illumination of plants with a lamp
First you need to decide which side you plan to direct the light from. A spotlight for illuminating trees is directed from below so that the stream of light falls at a certain angle. To achieve the best effect allows the use of several LED or halogen sources. In this case, there are many options for the direction of the light beam.
Today, the Spike lighting fixture is especially popular due to its ease of use. It consists of a sharp wedge, which is stuck into the ground. "Spike" is used to illuminate small plants. But they well emphasize the necessary sides of shrubs or small trees. Often used at parties and celebrations, these lights are considered temporary landscape lighting.
The lightness and airiness of wood can also be emphasized with the right light. To do this, the lamps are fixed on the branches of the plant, directing the flow of light into the object.
If the crown of the tree is dense, it is illuminated from the side with large LED spotlights. Illumination of trees with a transparent crown involves the installation of devices close so that the stream of light is directed upwards and illuminates the leaves well.
You can also play with the shadow of the plant. It should be clearly visible on the vertical wall of the building next to it. Sucha magic pattern can be obtained by removing the lamp from the plant at a greater distance.
Spotlights are often installed under the tree.
All tree lighting fixtures help highlight visually the most attractive parts of the landscape. Such illumination allows you to plunge into the fairy-tale world, full of romance and mysteries.
Using LED garlands
Decorative lighting of trees with LED garlands is especially popular in winter. They are divided into "fruits" and "leaves". They differ from other lighting devices in that they are attached directly to a tree - a trunk or branches. Duralight light cords and clip-light garlands are especially popular.
"Fruits" is a garland with large, rare lanterns. When illuminated with LEDs, the illusion is created that these rare, bright lanterns are the fruit of a plant.
"Leaves" - a garland with often arranged tiny bulbs that illusory resemble glowing leaves.
Landscape lighting of trees with LED sources has many advantages:
- long service life;
- weather resistant;
- thrifty;
- illuminate plants in a variety of bright colors;
- characterized by a variety of shapes (rain, lantern, curtain, fringe, mesh, icicles and balloons, etc.);
- you can make any fantasy come true.
Conclusion
Choosing the right lighting fixtures and their location allows you to decorate large and small squares, city parks and home gardens in an original way. Illumination of trees with LED spotlights, garlands, lanterns and lamps can take you at night to the fabulous world of shadows. Such lighting structures are safe and durable. They will always give you a good, festive mood.
