Solar Lighting for Landscapes

Accent Lighting

• In a landscape, the accent lighting is set up to draw focus to a particular area, specimen or decorative object. While these lights illuminate fountains and night-blooming flowers, they can also illuminate garden paths or entry walkways. Accent lights that track a walkway are often covered by a solid shade across the top. This reflects the light back toward the walkway allowing the maximum amount of light to be pointed at the ground. Accent lights designed to highlight taller objects are often on adjustable frames that allow the light to move forward and back and sometimes side to side. Both types of lighting have small solar panels on top that soak up the sun's rays during the day and an ambient light sensor that activates the light at dusk.

Freestanding Lamps

• For larger gardens and even some patios, freestanding solar lamps are available. These lamps come in a variety of styles from the early-20th-century street lamp style to more contemporary black or stainless steel finish lamps. Like the accent lights, these lamps have solar panels located on top that collect the solar power for use in the evening. Some solar landscape lamps are hung on a free-standing shaft, but can be disconnected and used as a portable lantern if leaving the lit path.

Incognito

• Although solar landscape lights are, for the most part, easily spotted during the day, some are designed to be hidden. These lights most often take the shape of garden rocks of various sizes. These rocks use LED lights to produce energy-efficient light on par with normal accent lights. Drawbacks to this design include the need to place the incognito light in an area with direct sunlight and the inability to adjust the light beam direction.

Spot Lights

• Of course, for the widest coverage of the landscape, large spot lights or floodlights are available. These lights can be mounted the walls of the house or shed and can show light across the whole landscape. While many possess the same ambient light sensors as other solar landscape lights, most also have a motion sensor that ensures the light will only activate when someone nearby disturbs it.