Imagine your perfect garden. It has perfectly trimmed grass, neatly cut bushes, flowers,
smooth pathways, maybe even a big tree and a fountain centerpiece. It looks great in
the afternoon with the sunlight beaming down on your hard work. But once that sunlight
disappears, you’re going to have to think about how to keep your garden looking
immaculate without all this natural light.
I know what you’re thinking. You’ll have to hire electricians to lay some wirework and
use cheap bulbs so you can pay your electricity provider every month just to light up
your beautiful garden at night. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Because of solar
lighting technology, you can use the same sun that lights up everything during the day
and have it bring as much light as you need when the sky gets dark and it’s time to
party. Today we’ll learn about hardscaping your garden with different solar lights.
What is Hardscaping?
Hardscaping is using hard landscape materials (i.e. lights, posts, stones, bricks, etc.)
and incorporating them into a green area to contrast the “softness” of nature and
vegetation. Hardscaping includes things like your pathways, walls, stairs, and paved
sections. It also includes lighting, which we will cover today.
Types of Lights for Hardscaping
For your garden, there are three primary categories of lighting. They vary in cost and
function, and you’re going to want to use the right light for the right application.
Solar Accent Lights
Accent lights provide very little in the way of bright illumination. Their main purpose is to
highlight your garden features and give them a beautiful ethereal glow. They can be very
dim, which makes them perfect for providing a minimal amount of visibility so that your
plants and structures can still be appreciated.
Since accent lights provide very little light, they use very little energy and can function
on a single day’s charge for a handful of days. They also typically use amber lights
which are softer on easier on the eyes than the white lights you might use for pathways.
Amber lights also use less electricity overall than white light.
You can use your accent lights to highlight a particularly nice hedge or plant, some
small structures, or even to mark any walking hazards such as small rocks. Accent
lights are the most affordable out of the solar lights you can use, but they are crucial to
providing the ambiance that you want to achieve in your garden.
Solar Path Lights
As you may have already guessed, solar path lights are used to light up the small
thoroughfares to get around your estate. They’re important for paths, walkways,
driveways, or perimeters. They’re there to guide you so you know where to walk around
at night.
Path lights typically come with different methods of installation. They can use hooks,
flange mounts, or ground stakes. They’re designed to docus downward to avoid blinding
anyone walking on the path.
Path lights can also have switches that allow you to decide when to turn them on or off
so you can store your charge for when you have a big night and you have lots of guests
coming in. They can also have options to use either high or low power, have colored
lights, or even timers. Compared to accent lights, path lights are slightly more
expensive, but still in the middle between it and the next type of light we’ll look at.
Solar Task Lights and Spotlights
Solar task lights and spotlights are the most powerful of the three lights we’re looking at
today. They have a very focused beam that you can use for other garden features like
big plants and statues, and also for main entryways. It’s different from a floodlight in
that it produces less light and uses less power, but for a garden, it’s very powerful
nonetheless.
Solar task lights are generally built to be very robust and durable. They can also be
installed in a way that allows you to mount it separately from the solar panel, so you can
shine it wherever it needs to while still being able to place the panel where it can get the
most sunlight.
Task lights and spotlights are the most expensive of the three, but you’ll only end up
needing about a handful as they’re only for the most important parts of your garden.
Other Hardscaping Equipment
While we’re on the topic of solar-powered hardscaping, lighting is not the only thing that
can benefit from solar energy. You will find that there are other parts of your garden that
can use it. One of which is solar lawn care equipment such as a solar lawnmower or
other equipment for trimming grass and hedges. If you can find one, they’re excellent
for keeping your garden caring completely emissions-free.
You may also be able to find solar-powered fountains that use the technology not only
to light up your fountain from underneath the water but also power the streaming of
water as well. While these are not as easily accessible as solar lights, they are a great
addition to your green garden if you have the means.
Advantages
When you think about solar energy, the first thing you think about is that it’s
environmentally friendly and that’s one of the main advantages of going solar for your
garden. Your carbon emissions from using traditional electricity and lighting are
decreased to just about zero. It’s a great thing to think about when you consider how
we’re going to help our planet survive the next few decades.
Solar energy is also infinitely renewable and once you have them, the sun takes care of
everything for you. You won’t have to pay for an electrician to lay down your wires and
worse, pay every month just to maintain your lighting at night. You also don’t have to
worry about any electrical fires since there’s no wiring, which is especially comforting
since electrical fires in a garden full of flammable vegetation is a recipe for disaster.
You’re also going to save a lot of money in the long run when you consider self-
sufficient your lights are going to be. Not to mention, the lighting they provide is not only
beautiful but efficient and reliable. You also have a lot of options with solar lights and
solar equipment looks a lot more sophisticated than traditional lighting.
Disadvantages
While definitely advantageous, it’s important to consider the downsides of using solar
energy. However, you’ll find that of the most disadvantages can be eased by the
advantages we’ve already discussed previously.
While you do save money in the long run, you’ll have to spend slightly more upfront as
opposed to cheap incandescent and halogen lights. This means your solar lights are an
investment, and you can rest assure that they will eventually pay off.
They do require some cleaning and maintenance, but only when they get particularly
dirty from any mud or dust that gets tossed up in a garden, which does happen. This
isn’t an everyday occurrence though, and if you already keep your lawn clean, keeping
your solar lights clean along with it is not out of the way.
Solar lights are also very easy to install, which makes them very easy to uninstall as
well, which makes them prone to theft if left unchecked. For this, make sure you keep
your garden protected as you would with anything on your property.
Conclusion
There are many great reasons to use solar lights and incorporate them into your
hardscaping and they outweigh the cons if you value those great reasons. Making your
garden look great during the day takes a lot of hard work, but lighting it up at night
doesn’t have to be.
Make your garden estate the talk of the town! Our solar light experts and Quicklight Solar
and Lighting Solutions will be happy to help you make your garden as green and bright as
possible!
