We live with my beloved wife Jola … in the middle of nowhere. We only have pheasants and deer for our neighbors. Nevertheless, our house is open to every guest. To spend pleasant evenings with friends, I created an illuminated garden around the house. I brought my idea for the arrangement from New York. It was there that I saw how plants should be illuminated to emphasize their natural beauty.
I used 3 types of lighting in my garden:
■ in trees,
■ ground,
■ spot.
Garden lighting
Although it looks complicated, tree lighting is very easy to do by yourself. First of all, a long tube is needed. It will serve as a crane and is more practical than a ladder. It also works well for trees that are difficult to access.
Installation of garden lanterns
To hang the lantern, first prepare a metal hook. Place one end in the tube and use it to reach the place where you want to place the lighting. Hang the hook on a tall branch. Attach the second hook to the lantern and also lift it up with the tube. We hang the hook on the second hook. We connect the lamps from lanterns in series, like lighting on a Christmas tree. The total cost of such arboreal lighting is about PLN 400. And the effects? Amazing!
Earth halides
The second type of lighting that I used in our garden are ground halides. You can buy them at any supermarket. Their price is about PLN 7 per piece. We dig a groove 30-40 cm deep in the garden. We put a cable with halides connected to it. We cover the whole with earth, leaving only the lamps above the ground. This lighting system lasted 5 years in my garden. It is frost resistant.Before burying the cable, it is worth making a drawing of the garden with marked locations of the cable. Otherwise, when digging through the area in a few years, we may be dangerously electrocuted!
My wife and I are going to soon open a garden shop selling exotic and rare species of plants. I hope it will be a really exciting activity.
Jacek Kopaczewski
