Whether we need garden lighting or not depends entirely on the time of year in the UK. Let’s face it, from May onwards into summer, the light in the gawrden is good until about 10pm, quite late enough to not need more than a little odd solar light in the pot nearest the seating area. However, get towards the end of September and we are heading rapidly into autumnal hues and shadows. The days shorten very rapidly from then onwards and any hope of entertaining without the necessary arc lights from the garage!
So what to choose. Various out of town hypermarkets now offer a superb range of solar powered lanterns which can recharge with just about bright daylight – although full sun for a few hours is far more successful. In fact there are many solar powered systems on the market with some of our smarter home outlets offering solar bollards for lining a pathway or globe shaped orbs for a really punchy effect after dark. Some of these are the sort of futuristic themes that would have featured in the top flight homes and garden magazines a few years ago and we’d laugh and not think for one minute that we would have such gorgeous and useful lighting objects in our lifetime! All free power too.
One of the best ideas these days is to have solar powered motion sensor lighting. They only come on when any motion is detected, thus saving energy but enough to deter intruders. So all sorts of ideas available these days.