Spring brings the ideal opportunity to breathe new life into your garden. The blooming flowers and lush greenery serve as the perfect backdrop for relaxation. To further top up the decorations, you can add a variety of outdoor lights that highlight the unique features of your garden. However, considering the electricity price hike, traditional lighting fixtures may be too heavy on your budget. Gladly, low voltage landscape lighting becomes your savior in this regard!
This article gives you a peek into low voltage landscape lighting and how you can use it to enhance the beauty of your garden this spring! Continue reading!
How to Enhance the Value of Your Garden with Low Voltage Landscape Lighting?
Low voltage landscape lighting is indeed an amazing addition to your garden as it consumes less electricity and creates a soft, inviting ambiance. Here are a few tips on how you should start your spring decorations, from basic garden preparation to choosing the right low voltage fixtures:
Prepare Your Garden
Firstly, you should prepare your garden for spring. You should clean up dead leaves or flowers and any leftover winter debris that can impact your garden’s aesthetics.
Spread a layer of mulch around plants to suppress weeds and retain moisture. Next, decide what plants you want to grow in your garden.
It mainly depends upon the climate and area you live in. For instance, if you live in New York, you can plant flowers like Virginia Rose or Swamp Milkweed that give your garden a mesmerizing look.
If possible, you can also add some other unique elements to your garden, such as a water feature or mirrors, that give the whole space a wow look and make visitors fall in love with it.
Create a Low Voltage Landscape Lighting Map
Now that you have prepared the garden, it’s time to create a low voltage landscape lighting map. Typically, you find regions in your garden that need the most illumination and draw them on paper. This map helps you analyze how much wire is needed to install the low voltage lighting fixtures and the best wiring method.
Choose the Right Low Voltage Landscape Lights
Typically, low voltage landscape lighting fixtures are those that consume energy between 12 and 24 volts, saving you money on energy bills. There are a variety of low voltage fixtures available that you can explore this spring, such as:
- Well Lights: Well lights also known as in-ground lights, are installed in the ground or decking. They are designed to shine up to highlight different architectural features in your garden, including statues and fountains.
- Pathway Lights: As the name suggests, pathway lights are useful for illuminating pathways and walkways for safe navigation. You may also use them to brighten the flower bed so that even when the sun sets, no one misses the beauty of your garden.
- Floodlights: Floodlights produce a wide beam of light effectively flooding a whole area with brightness. They are quite handy when you want to illuminate seating areas or large plants, providing visibility and security by deterring potential thieves.
- String Lights: String lights are actually small bulbs hanging on a cable and are used for decorative purposes. They can light up trees and shrubs, giving your garden a pretty makeover.
Pick the Right Transformer
When you are decorating your garden with low voltage landscape lighting, you cannot do it without a transformer. Transformers are devices that convert a high line voltage of around 120 volts from your home power supply into a much lower and safer voltage of around 12 volts, enough to power outdoor lights.
Another thing you should do is pick the right transformer for your needs. For this, you should look at the diagram or map you drew and calculate the total wattage of the lighting system you are going to power. Multiply that wattage with a safety factor of 1.25 to get the recommended wattage of the transformer.
For instance, if you are going to power 10 fixtures of 15 watts each, your total system wattage will be 15 × 10 = 150. Now multiple it with 1.25 and you’ll have:
- 150 × 1.25 = 187.5 or 188 W
Hence, the recommended transformer power for this system is around 188 W. You can purchase a higher-rated transformer to be safe, but don’t choose the one with a lower wattage rating as it can damage your fixtures.
Tip: Use 10 or 12-gauge wires to connect the transformer, as they minimize voltage drop. Keep the transformer at least 30 feet away from any water feature to avoid electrical hazards.
Get Some Garden Furniture
The garden is prepared and the low voltage landscape lighting is set, now what’s left? Of course, some garden furniture will transform your green heaven into a relaxing spot for guests and family.
You can get some cozy garden sofa sets that blend naturally with your garden’s aesthetics and also offer the perfect place to sit and unwind.
Other than this, you can go with garden chairs to read a book in your free time, and benches to sit on while gazing at the beautiful scenery present.
FAQs
Why use low voltage landscape lighting?
Low voltage landscape lighting significantly lowers the risk of electrical shock, and it is quite easy to install since there’s no need to bury wires or cables.
Can low voltage landscape lights offer security?
Yes, if you opt for low voltage landscape floodlights, they can flood your space with light, which deters thieves from invading your property at nighttime.
How far can you run low voltage outdoor lighting?
You can run or use a maximum length of 100 feet of 12 gauge wire per 100 watts of light or lower to be on the safe side.
Conclusion
As spring approaches, you should take on the task of decorating your garden and use low voltage landscape lighting to enhance its beauty. Wondering where you can get some amazing low voltage landscape fixtures options? Gardenreet is the one-stop shop!
We have been in this business since 2010 and offer incredible brass outdoor lights that provide efficient illumination and can easily withstand harsh environmental conditions. You may also explore our solar lights collection to save yourself from the hassle of high energy bills.
