Know Plants and Light as you Know Fixtures
In garden lighting, a knowledge of plants is just as important as the knowledge of the fixtures. The growing habits of the various plants, the type of foliage the plant is to have, its ultimate size, whether it will spread out or grow straight up - all these are important. There should be knowledge of all types of plants, leaves, trees, and foliage as to their acceptance or absorptions of light. Some reflect light, some absorb light.
Plant material with dark, thick leaves tend to absorb more light than plant material with light, thin leaves which are more transparent. For example, uplighting a Ficus tree will require a different application than when uplighting a Redbud. When considering a project with a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees on a limited budget, you will find that choosing the deciduous trees will give you a stronger impact for your dollar as they tend to reflect more light than they absorb.
Light follows the same principals with hardscape as well. Dark paving materials such as asphalt absorbs more light than light colored paving materials and can be extremely difficult to light. When moonlighting, the color of the surface of the ground is an important element when choosing lamp wattage.
It is also important to know which lamps put out warm light versus bright light. Warm colors include red, orange, and yellow, while cool colors include blue, green, and purple. The following are descriptions of light output with the type of lamp chosen:
- Fluorescent - warm and cool white
- Incandescent - warm yellow
- LED - warm and cool white
- Xenon - warm yellow, less so than incandescent
- Candle - very warm yellow
- Sodium Arc - pure yellow
- Halogen - crisp white light
- Metal Halide - slightly blue
- Mercury Arc - harsh blue and green light
A common practice when deciding how to design a landscape with warm and cool colors is to keep warm yellow colors around the home and in intimate sitting areas, and to use crisp white light in the surrounding landscape. Warm colors tend to make us feel comforted and warm, reminding us of candles and fireplaces. Cool colors tend to feel more bright and harsh.
Since flower beds and shrubs will generally have a range of colors, it is best to use a crisp white light (which most closely resembles sunlight) so that all colors can be fully enhanced.
We often advise designers to be cautious when using colored lenses. The reason being is that if you mix the wrong colored lens and color surface, your result can be a sick or dead looking object. For example, if you use a red lens on a green plant, red and green mixed together make brown, then the result will be unsightly. The color-wheel can tell you which colors don't mix well together. Any colors opposite each other on the color-wheel will mute each other into a dark brown and eventually turn black. We know that a yellow lens on a purple surface will also create a dull effect because they are on opposite sides of the color-wheel.
Colors are best enhanced when combined with those on either sides of them on the color-wheel. For example, mixing blue and green gives you teal. Mixing blue and purple gives you violet. But it is not that simple. You still need to be cautious because there are millions of different shades of every color, and each shade will react differently.
In all cases when using a colored lens, make sure that you are lighting a specific target and avoid light spillage onto adjacent surfaces. Most likely the colored lens will not positively enhance surrounding objects. This is easier to do with the control that low-voltage landscape lighting offers, but still a challenge in the outdoors where most of your pallet is growing and changing.
To better understand the effects of color, keep a color-wheel at hand and experiment with surfaces, lamps and lenses.
Classifying Lamps
Most PAR 36 lamps have a warm incandescent light output with the exception of some being a bright halogen light. Each lamp is fully waterproof and weather resistant. The PAR 36 lamps with the longest lamp life (@ 5,000 hours) are LO7558, LO7559, LO7560, LO7561, all giving off a bright halogen light.
MR 16, MR 11, and MR 8 lamps are quartz halogen bulbs that produce a whiter, more intense light than incandescent lamps of comparable wattage. They allow you to achieve excellent color rendition and maintain lumen output for the life of the lamp.
Single Contact Bayonet lamps give off a warm incandescent light and are most commonly without a directional beam, unlike the Par 36 and MR 16.
Wedge Base lamps are available in both warm xenon and warm incandescent.
Double-End Contact lamps give off a warm incandescent light. Of our entire NightscapingŪ arsenal of fixtures, only the Nicheliter uses a double-end contact lamp.
Standard Bi-Pin Quartz Halogen lamps give off a bright, crisp white light. When ordered as a xenon, it will give off a warm yellow light.
Questions to ask when choosing the fixture that best fits your situation
Start by asking questions regarding the light qualities that would best show-off what it is you are illuminating.
- Do you want a beam of light or a soft wash of spread light?
- Are you looking for a bright crisp light or a warm yellow light?
- Are you lighting an area where people will be sitting or greeting each other?
- Do you want a white finish on the inside of your fixture to reflect bright light?
- Or do you want a natural copper or brass finish to reflect warmth?
- Do you need a lamp with multiple options of wattage and beam spread for future growth?
- How do you want your fixture to be mounted?
- Do you need a spread lens in addition to a warm lamp?
- Do you need a fixture that can house colored lenses, whether temporary or permanent?
Too often people are tempted to pick out fixtures based on their appearance, when really its the effect of the lamp that they should be focused on.
1705 E. Colton Avenue, Redlands CA 92374
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