The most common lighting mistake is not too few fixtures. It is too many, all at the same brightness, aimed at everything equally. Contrast is what makes a lit garden feel like a garden.
Light the path, not the lawn
People need to see where they are walking. They do not need to see the whole property. Shielded, downward-throwing path lights placed at direction changes and level changes do the safety job with a fraction of the fixtures.
Pick two or three things to uplight
A multi-trunk specimen, a stone wall with texture worth revealing, perhaps the house facade. Uplighting everything flattens the garden into a wall of brightness and leaves nothing to draw the eye.
Stay warm
2700K or lower. Cooler colour temperatures make foliage read grey-blue and give a garden a commercial, security-lighting feel. Warm light flatters planting and stonework.
Hide the source
You should see the effect, not the fixture. If a light is visible from the seating area or the kitchen window, it is either aimed wrong or needs a shield. Glare ruins the effect faster than anything else.
Zone it
An everyday scene — path and one focal point — and an entertaining scene that brings up the terrace. Two circuits and a timer, and the garden works on a Tuesday as well as at a party.
Then walk it at night
Aim every fixture after dark, on site, with the client. Nothing installed in daylight is aimed correctly. We build a night walk-through into every lighting job for exactly this reason.
