rons

LYSE TAO REY AE yee

IT GRIEVES me terribly to see the yearly departure of

daylight saving time. There is nothing more depressing than
going to and from work in total darkness.

T am reminded of the Morlocks
of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine.
Subterranean, sub-humans skulk-
ing through the shadows, cringing
from the light of day.

This feeling of gloom is general-
ly accentuated by the weather

which accompanies the time
change. The days of this ‘wet end’
of the year usually start in dark-
ness, lighten up to a grey at best,
and then disappear in darkness
again.

If you’re like me, and cannot
afford to hang it up and head
south for the winter, try some
outdoor lighting. Coming home to
a well-lit garden is a little like com-
ing back to the cave with a warm
fire to greet you.

There are the year-round
benefits as well.

Making the garden more conve-
nient for evening entertaining,
boosting the level of the security
around your home, and adding
safety lighting to stairs and

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pathways are a few examples.

All too many of you put up a
couple of flood lights off the eaves
of the house and call it landscape
lighting.

It may be all right for the car
lot; it certainly is not landscape

over the

garden gate

Geoff Tobiasson

lighting. The resuits are fiat,
featureless, and unartful illumina-
tion that does nothing to comple-
ment your garden setting.

In most cases, it is actually less
expensive and timc consuming to
be a little more creative. Simply
moving a mechanic’s light on an
extension cord to various locations
in the garden in order to try out
various locations and techniques
will demonstrate this to you.

There are any number of effec-
tive methods that can be used to
create after-dusk warmth and in-
terest in the garden. Try some of
the following examples and see
what you can do.

° Up-Lighting — One or more
floods are placed low to the

All in stock

OUTDOOR
LIGHTING

Across From Venice
Bakery on Main St.
{bright yellow awning) |

ground, screened from view by low
growing foliage and pointing up
and away from the viewer.

Directing the beam up, into the
trunks and branches of a specimen
tree such as a clump birch, Japa-
nese maple, or weeping cherry can
create strong examples of good
lighting drama.

© Down-Lighting — In certain
circumstances, floods hung off the
eaves are necessary evils, useful in
lighting up large areas.

Try setting the light(s) high in
nearby trees as an alternative. The
foliage wit! soften the glare, and
create interesting combinations of
light and shade.

* Back-Lighting — Let’s say you
have a deciduous tree or large
shrub, planted in front of a warm,
smooth wall such as tan plaster.

Place your flood(s) behind the
tree and in front of the wall so
they will illuminate the wall and
leave the tree in shadow. You now
have some beautifully silhouetted
branches to admire, even in winter.

© Spot-Lighting — This is rather
self-explanatory. Use narrow beam
spotlights to accent focal points
such as gateways, doorways,
statues or other garden ornaments,
or even a unique arrangement of
plants.

¢ Spread-Lighting — Those
mushroom-shaped fixtures that
produce circular patterns of light
and illuminate large areas, are ex-
amples of spread-lighting.

Evenings can come alive with
color when this type of fixture is
placed in the middle of a flower
bed or colorful ground cover.

-© Path-Lighting — The fixtures
for this nse can be similar to those

| Portland
Type 16

“ey,

13 - Friday, November H, 1988 - North Shore News

found in spread-lighting or they
could be recessed wall-fixtures. [l-
luminating pathways, stairways,
low obstructions, and changes in
elevation should be of primary
concern.

Here are a few rules of thumb
(green or otherwise) that will help
you in the design of your lighting
system:

See the light, not the Jamp — In
most cases, try to hide the fixture
behind !ow shrubs, up in the

MOONLIGHTING

foliage of trees, or recessed in
walls, You should be creating ef-
fects with light, not showing off
your hardware or your electrical
expertise.

Be theatrical — Wiuminate the
yard as though you were a lighting
technician lighting up a stage. Use
the light to draw the viewers’ at-
tention to the areas you wish to

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Page 15

GOLDEN TOUCH
ie 7 ERIORS