Landscape Lighting Services in Baton Rouge: 5 Lawn Illumination Tips

Broad oak trees, elegant crepe myrtles, bright azaleas, and a myriad of shrubs, hedges, flowers, and more all surround our homes in the Baton Rouge area. The landscaping that frames our homes could, and should, be seen, appreciated, and enjoyed day or night. Landscape lighting can enhance the appearance and ambiance of every home. Here are a few quick things that you should know and do when it comes to landscape lighting.

Choose the Right Landscape Light for the Right Application

Different areas of your lawn and landscape need different types of illumination. The intensity, quantity, and color of the light is an important consideration. There are different types of lighting, depending on where the lights are placed. Overall lighting is meant to cover larger spaces such as lawns or patios. Task lighting has a specific purpose of lighting selected areas like outdoor kitchens or firepit areas. Accent lighting is meant to highlight specific areas or features such as bed edges, pathways, trees or shrubs, and even fountains and statues.

Types of Landscape Lighting Fixtures

In today’s outdoor lighting realm, incandescent bulbs are a thing of the past and most lighting fixtures have adopted LED technology. This has revolutionized the lighting industry with a wide range of lights for a wide range of applications and which allows for up to 2 to 3 times the number of lights on a single wire. This allows for lights to act as flood lights or lighting up a large wall, narrow beam lights for columns and statues, spotlights for up lighting trees and shrubs, strip lights for under overhang down lighting, to even decks and steps and underwater applications.

What are “Grow With Me Lights”?

LED technology has allowed for light that have multiple brightness settings to be used in a landscape that is newer and may take 5 to 15 years to reach its full potential. These newer VLO or Variable Lumen Output lights allow for the landscaper to start off with a lower lumen (brightness) level and as the tree or bush grows, increase the brightness to the best level possible for that application. This also allows for the light to be removed and relocated and repurposed should an area get redesigned or reworked.

Select the Best Areas for Landscape Lighting

Your home’s landscape has a variety of areas and an array of needs for light. Walkways and steps should be well-lit. Patios and decks can have certain areas highlighted, while remaining comfortable, and landscaping and architectural features can be used to accentuate their aesthetic features. Placing a pathway light in the middle of a large ground cover area can add a different look at night that might highlight textures normally unnoticed during the day. Not all trees and areas are in need of or benefit from accent lighting such as areas near streetlights or flood lights as the landscape lighting get drowned out our over powered. Proper assessment and design will ensure that when the sun goes down, your landscape and yard spaces take on a whole new life at night.

Emphasize Safety with Your Landscape Illumination

One of the key benefits of landscape lighting is that it enhances safety at night and in areas that would otherwise be very dark. From sidewalks, driveways, and steps, you have a variety of options for how to keep your family and guests safe when traversing to and from areas. Landscaping lighting can also be an effective security application in helping to deter criminals by reducing the number of places they can hide behind landscape bushes/trees. Additionally, with motion sensors and strategically placed lights near doors and windows, landscape lighting can enhance and augment other residential security efforts to keep your home safe on more levels than ever before! 

No matter the size of your flowerbed, yard, or other landscaping features, the experts at Kyle’s Lawn and Landscape are here to help. From mowing and landscaping to drainage and lighting, your home and business’s greenscapes have never been in better hands.