How I Use Lighting In The Garden

Lighting isn’t my favorite chore to tackle in the garden. Like other gardeners, I would rather have my hands in the dirt than in electrical circuits. On the other hand, the right choice and use of lighting makes a world of difference on summer evenings. Here are my favorite options. 

String Lights

Hands down, my favorite lighting in the garden is string lights. We have two strings of Edison bulbs under the aluminum awning over our back patio. The bulbs are bigger and brighter than fairy lights but not so bright that they ruin a relaxing summer night. 

Without a working outdoor outlet, getting the right lights on the patio took some creativity. We had one standard incandescent bulb on the outside wall by the back slider door that provided harsh light and attracted a million bugs at night. 

I found the perfect product to remedy the situation: an adapter you can screw in where a lightbulb would normally go. It has two outlets on it, to which we attached two strings of lights. Now, we have a soft glow, perfect for enjoying the warm summer nights, alone or with a group of friends to entertain. 

Solar-Powered Lights

The string lights provide both ambience and a practical lighting, but I also enjoy other touches of light for nights in the garden. Without additional outlets, I harness the power of the sun to enjoy these whimsical lights. 

Because these are mostly for fun, I like to find unique solar lights. My favorite is an animal figurine with a bear and its friends that glows when you turn it on after a day of soaking up the sun. 

Motion Response Lights

I prefer not to light up the whole garden at night. I enjoy the few lights on the back patio, but don’t have any lights lining walkways or the front sidewalk. 

For security purposes, we use a couple of bright bulbs on either side of the garage door. Not quite floodlights, they provide adequate lighting to make the space safer at night. Because we don’t want the lights on all the time, motion sensitive fixtures are perfect. They only go on when someone moves near the lights. 

Garden lighting is a practical element of an outdoor space, but it can also be fun. For our garden, lighting is both security and a way to extend the number of hours we can spend outside enjoying it.