Garden Lighting: Enjoy Your Landscape Day and Night

Landscape lighting can accentuate the positive features of a garden and hide any daytime disasters. Glassman suggests using a low-voltage lighting kit for basic backyard lighting. Most kits come with a transformer, light fixtures, wire nuts and wire, and if you spend a little bit more, you can even get a remote control unit.

To light a water feature, place the waterproof light fixture in the water. Consider underwater fixtures that swivel (figure D) so that you can focus the light on specific features such as a waterfall. Glassman recommends positioning the light as far back in the water as possible (figure E) to illuminate the water and the featured pond element.

Hide the cords beneath rocks and vegetation. Connect the light to the main power cable, splitting the two main wires with a sharp knife. Strip about one inch of the wire casing from the wire with wire strippers (figure F). Twist the wires together, and repeat the process for the cable that goes to the low-voltage transformer.

Twist together one set of wires from the pond light with one set of wires from the main power, and secure them with a waterproof wire nut. Hook the main cable up to the transformer by wrapping the exposed wire around a screw. Tighten the screw down with a screwdriver (figure G), and plug in the unit to light the pond at night.

Another way to enhance night lighting is to use mosquito netting. Drape the netting and add flowers along the net for color (figure J). Mosquito netting is available at any army/navy surplus store.

Glassman also creates dramatic accents by positioning the light so that it points up onto an unusually shaped tree, such as a contorted filbert. By lighting a dry, rocky creek bed, Glassman gives the illusion of a moving stream at night (figure K). Also, lighting can pull attention away from a glaring, bare wall and focus on a specific plant instead.

Not all accent lighting is electric. "I love using hooks with lanterns," says Glassman. "They can be inexpensive and fun or custom and elegant." Glassman suggests using shorter hooks to accent pathways (figure L) and taller hooks to accent structures (figure M).