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Okra weather in Louisiana — fall weather in the rest of the country — means the yard is full of hay bales, squash, mums and crotons.
As daylight saving time ends on November 6th, and our days are getting shorter and darker, many homeowners are starting to rely more on outdoor lights to accentuate holiday scenery and tricky trails and provide some security. But before launching floodlights, you might want to look at the various options on the market, and technology is a good place to start.
“Low voltage LEDs are a game changer,” said Joseph King, owner of Landscape King in Baton Rouge. “They don’t use a lot of watts. Before, you had to calculate the voltage drop, and now, as long as your transformer can handle the wattage of the entire installation, it’s relatively easy.”
He explained that a small LED street light uses about 2 watts of power, an easy load that can handle a small transformer up to 120 watts. For do-it-yourselfers, low voltage LED landscape lighting kits are available. Some offer color-changing bulbs that can be accessed from your phone, making holiday lighting a breeze.
According to Micky’s manual from SiteOne Landscaping Supply, tree lights can have a dramatic effect.
“You can already have festive lighting in your landscape, and it can be green and red for Christmas, or orange for Halloween, or whatever,” King said. “It was really fun to play. I even had it installed in my house.”
According to local landscape lighting experts, the three main concerns for homeowners are safety, security and the environment. There’s a way to combine all these aspects with just the right amount of not-too-bright light.
“Don’t overdo it,” says Mickey Manual, account manager at SiteOne Landscape Supply in Baton Rouge. “You don’t want it to look like an airport. You want to have a good balance of lighting.”
“We try not to overuse the lighting,” says Michael Percy, landscape architect at CARBO Landscape Architect in Baton Rouge. “I think there is a temptation to overlight a project at night, and things can start to look a little artificial. So our The trick is to hide the light where we can, so you can’t see the light source.”
The Great Oak is the highlight of many courtyards in southern Louisiana and a great spot for night lighting. Manual says clients are often looking for ways to light up oaks “to bring life to large oaks that may have been around for years.”
File photo. Lighting done well can give a yard a magical feel.
“We started with the tree, and if we had a trail or a driveway, then we started thinking about how we could use that tree to bring light onto those elements so that people could see at night,” Percy said.
Tree-mounted lights shine downward, imitating the glow of moonlight, casting shadows on the ground. But shadows can also play a role in an overall lighting plan, according to King.
“Sometimes you light something like a plant or taller holly or something. If there’s a wall behind it, that casts light on the wall, but also casts shadows on the wall, which is kind of cool The aesthetics, you can do a lot to play with it and get some good looks from it,” he said.
On the safety front, King recommends lighting where there are “slope transitions” in the yard, including steps, ramps, or areas that could cause someone to trip and fall. Path lights are a common choice for homeowners, but Percy suggests a unique way to light the way.
File photo of a New Orleans home’s backyard at dusk, with spotlights on the mural, just as the lights on the pavers come on.
“We try to avoid path lights though, like having the lights run directly along the path. Usually, it looks a bit like a runway, and sometimes those lights get knocked over and look a little crooked. Your eyes really pay attention To this point. You can hide the light in the tree and hit it that way,” he said.
Trees, pillars, statues, walls, flower beds—anything in your yard can glow at night. Outdoor living areas and patios also become extensions of the home when the light is right.
“We love hanging out in our backyard,” Kim said. “I have a 2 year old and all the neighbors came over. So glad they all came over and hung out in our yard because at night everything was on and the kids could run around and play and we could Better focus on them.”
Lighting up your home isn’t always a one-size-fits-all concept, but it’s always a good idea to have a game plan before installation.
“It all depends on your assumptions,” Manual said. “It’s really what you want to bring to life.”
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