4 Ways to Highlight Your Landscape Design With Current Landscape Lighting Trends in Grandview Heights, OH

Landscape lighting can be important for many reasons—it can highlight any favorite parts of your Grandview Heights, OH, yard, increase the safety when you go outside after dark, and offers many other benefits. Use any or all of these current landscape lighting trends to upgrade your property’s nighttime appearance. 

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Up-Lighting for Trees and Shrubs

For landscape lighting to look truly magical, your landscape professional must know the techniques that bring out parts of the yard. Up-lighting is a way to add dimension and interest to your trees and shrubs.

By placing spotlights that shine at different angles on your tree trunks and at the base of shrubs, they can create focal points and direct the eye into your landscape after dark. Well-lights are another lighting technique that emphasizes the height and interest of the trees.

Since the lights are aimed at different parts of the tree trunk and branches, they can call attention to the foliage and woody base. Larger trees and shrubs need more than one light while smaller ones can shine with one beam.

Cross-Lighting 

Cross-lighting is similar to up-lighting but with a specific purpose. When your landscaper adds spotlights at opposing sides of the tree, the crossing of the lights can create a unique appearance. They use the shadows and dark crannies to make your trees and shrubs look special in the darkened landscape.

Shadowing

Shadowing is the technique that shines a warm, wide light at the front of a tree or bush to emphasize the shadows behind. They can also do the same thing with a stone retaining wall to draw out the spaces where the dark nooks contrast with the light shining on the front of the stone. 

Light Layering

Some homeowners like to have a unified lighting look throughout the landscape. They would prefer that no one thing stand out but instead like the idea of the whole property presenting a seamless appearance. 

Other homeowners want some features to stand out more than others. A landscaper can accomplish this with bolder lighting to focus on specific portions of the landscape. For instance, a glorious fountain in the center of a circular driveway deserves its own moment. The landscape professional might use several techniques to give your fountain the drama it needs. 

Perhaps you have one wing of your home that has a stacked stone exterior. Focusing some extra lighting on the wing can make it stand out from the rest of the house. The same can be true for stone columns that grace your porch. Shining bolder lights on the columns can define their size and texture in the darkness. 

Most outdoor lighting has either warm tones or cool tones. Generally, the warm toned light can look the best in the dark since it adds a warm aura to your outdoor spaces. Cooler lighting tones can be used for spaces where you want lighting for more visibility and not just improved aesthetics. 

The benefits of landscape lighting are worth the investment. From illuminating those darkened corners that make you feel uncomfortable to shining a warm light on your favorite oak tree, thoughtful landscape lighting can bring out the depth and dimension in your landscape. When you gaze out on your property and see the lighted beauty, you won’t believe it is the same yard.

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