Landscape lighting for your garden might seem like a frivolous idea, but in truth it’s a good idea. Lights provide a soft, inviting glow for your yard and garden and can add to your personal safety as you meander among your perennials and annuals. Solar lights have become popular in recent years along with garden egg chairs which has exploded onto the market in the last 3/4 years.
Landscape Lighting for Your Garden: Low Voltage Line Lights
Low voltage line lights are the least expensive initial outlay of money, but these lights will add to your overall electric bill when they are in use. Since these lights are run by electricity, they should include a timer that features a dusk-to-dawn setting.
These lights are attached to each other through an electrical cord and run off of your home’s electrical system. Low voltage lights can either plug into an outdoor outlet or be hardwired into your electrical feed, but this needs to be done by a certified electrician.
Low voltage lights can be placed anywhere in your garden or landscape but they are obviously limited by the length of the electrical cord between each light and the cord that plugs or hooks into the electrical feed.
Landscape Lighting for your Garden: Solar Lights
While solar lights might cost more initially, they shine independent of an electrical grid and cost nothing to operate. Solar lights feature a small solar panel on the top of the light and a dusk-to-dawn sensor that turns the lights off and on.
Solar lights are most often sold individually (for a lower-cost solution) or in packs of four, six or eight lights. Because each light is independent of each other, you can strategically place individual solar lights wherever you need them in your garden.
I personally prefer solar lights because they are more versatile in their placement and use. I first chose solar as an option because I didn’t want to deal with the issue of electrical cords that could be tripped over or that would require burying in the ground.
I have had low voltage line lights in the past, but I was unhappy with the added expense to my electric bill, so I started replacing those lights with solar.
Since the initial cost of a set of solar lights can be daunting for the budget-minded homeowner, I chose to add them slowly. Solar lights are readily-available at garden and home center and even discount stores such as Target and Wal-Mart. Many offer the option of buying a single solar light, which I do as I have the extra money.
The biggest drawback I have found with solar lights is that over time, the plastic that covers the sensors and the solar panels will become permanently fogged, rendering the light useless.
Whatever your choice in landscape lighting, personal safety means that lighting is a wise investment and a pleasant addition to your garden.