Why You Should Add Lighting To Your Landscaping Plans
Anyone who is at all serious about landscaping would do well to incorporate lighting into the planning process as soon as possible. Many landscapers treat lighting as an afterthought: something to illuminate the work that they’ve already done.
But lighting is much more than a means to show off your design creativity and inventiveness. It is certainly more than a way to illuminate the finer points of a yard or outdoor space after dark. On the contrary, it should be considered an integral part of the entire design, which would fall short without its presence.
Why lighting is so important to landscape design
Lighting serves a fairly obvious‒but no less important‒purpose: illuminating your yard, patio, or outdoor space after dark. If you plan on spending any time at night in the area you’ve so painstakingly created, this function is essential.
But lighting provides so much more value than just illuminating the surroundings. It also highlights the finer points of your space, showcasing its best features and directing the viewer’s eye throughout the ensemble in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Furthermore, lighting adds depth and drama to an already impressive landscape design, making it more majestic and spectacular. It could even add that final finishing touch to a garden or patio that isn’t quite all the way “there”.
Why incorporate lighting in your landscape planning?
Okay, so the importance of lighting is well established. But why should you incorporate lighting considerations into the landscape planning process instead of tacking them on to the completed design? Here are some good reasons:
1. Flexibility. Planning your lighting as early as possible in the landscaping process gives you maximum flexibility to design your lighting as you wish. Whether you are planning a modest layout or a complex, multilevel design, planning where the bulbs and sockets will go allows you to blend everything in a way that complements the whole.
Plus, you will have a clearer idea of how your chosen lighting fixtures will affect the rest of the components. This could save you considerable time, money, and effort on revisions and redesigns.
2. Scalability. Planning your lighting simultaneously as you are designing the yard gives the advantage of better scalability. You can add only as many light fixtures as you need to get the desired effect or go all-out for maximum visual impact.
On the other hand, if you put off planning your lights after the rest of the landscaping plans are done, you risk ‘painting yourself in the corner’. So much of landscape planning is about carefully orchestrating the individual elements, so you could find yourself struggling to add more necessary details later on. Plan for your lights and the rest of your design, and they will all be more likely to work well together.
3. Cost effectiveness. Cost is always a concern when landscaping any outdoor space. You need to ensure that you aren’t spending any more money than necessary, and one of the best ways to do that is by carefully considering your lighting requirements as early as possible.
By incorporating lighting with the rest of your landscape planning, you have a better idea of how many bulbs, fixtures, and accessories you will need to get the desired effect. This can save you the cost of having to purchase additional items and having to redo the work you have already done.
Even if you realize that you will need more lights, the added cost should be more manageable. Because your existing system already works with the rest of your landscape design, adding more equipment as needed shouldn’t cost too much.
4. Aesthetics. There’s something to be said about a landscape design in which every element fits neatly with everything else. The various features work well, contribute to the impressiveness of the whole, and there is a sense of harmony and purpose to the entire ensemble. You can achieve this more easily by planning your lighting in the early stages of your landscaping design.
Lighting Matters
The benefits of lighting in landscaping are indisputable. But rather than saving your lighting plans for last, you will almost certainly come up with a better design by thinking about lighting at the beginning of the planning process.