Evening star., 1949-08-07
Light Your Garden at Night
Suggestions Made on How to Achieve
Good and Lasting Illumination
By W. n. Younomon

Good and Lasting
By W. H.
corde
Lighting the garden may sound
like a new fad. Ten years ago
it was, but now more and more
householders are adding lights to
meet various needs and find the
effort more than justified.
Earlier efforts were generally
directed toward illuminating spots
where the family and friends
tended to congregate of an evening
for instance near the outdoor
fireplace. A light was often in
stalled near the lily pool if there
were night-blooming water lilies
to be shared with visitors. An
outdoor living room or terrace
might we'll have a light that could
be turned on when the quests were
ready to leave even though earlier
lighting was avoided since il
seemed always to attract the bugs
Only an occasional gardener had
lights near flower beds and then
chiefly for the purpose of extend
ing working hours. Few really
went into the possibilities of elec-
trifying the garden to make it as
interesting and attractive at night
as by day.
Electric lights can be most ef-
fective if placed to produce un-
usual garden scenes. A light placed
behind a Towering shrub in full
bloom will give pleasing and
rather unexpected effect. A soft
light shining through an azalea
bush will pick up the colors and
make a surprisingly interesting
night time display. Try it some
time. Just place a small bulb on
the ground behind a Towering
bush and let the light shine up
through so that the passerby will
see the flowers against the light.
Use Cable to Central Points.
Garden electrifcation while
comparatively new has already
gone far enough so that a few
salient points are worth keeping
in mind. For all except the most
Temporary use it will pay to use
well-made waterproof outlets and
fixtures. Any other kind is apt
to absorb moisture and so lead
to short circuits and blown fuses.
If practicable a lead-covered cable
may be extended from the fuse
box in the basement to one or
more points in the yard where
lights or equipment may be
plugged in.
A few vell.placed lights are
usually much more effective than
considerable number. Lights
should be placed carefully so as
to illuminate the desired portion
of the garden or an object with
out binding persons in the gar
den. Often it will take some ex-
perimenting to determine the best
location for a light.
If possible the light should be
placed to shine up rather than
down but this cannot always be
arranged since we may have q
flower bed OR lily pool or some
thing similar to be lighted. Fol
such points Of interest as well as
steps and other hazards, low-h hung
lights will be needed and while
they may be shielded with de-
flectors, they are necessarily more
or less. conspicuous. Small bulbs
are, OF course, less noticeable than
powerful flood lights. Several
trials may be necessary to deter
mine the best location and the
type and size Of light needed.
Several new types of out-of-
doors lights are on the market.
The gardener may find that one
of them will serve his purpose
better than the more conventional
types. One Of these is a flood
mounted on a tall pointed steel
stake. The light is inclosed in a
waterproof reflector. There is also
a similar one on a short spike
which has a flexible neck for easy
adjustment. Both of these are
suitable for permanent lighting,
but will serve many temporary
uses If there are convenient out
lets for plugging them in.
A special gadget OF interest to
the gardener with a lily pool is a
waterproofed fixture mounted on a
stand for placing in the pool. The
mount is topped by an imitation
lily pad SO that the light is de-
flected and does not shine into the
eyes of all who look. Careful con-