Landscape Lighting

Summit Landscape is a Kichler Premiere Contractor. We install quality Kichler fixtures that highlight the landscape and features of the homes and grounds. With a low voltage landscape lighting system we can install a professional looking system that highlights all the right areas of the home and landscape. There are many different “right” ways to light, and a small amount of lighting can go a long way toward establishing a landscape pleasing to the eye at night.

Why Landscape Lighting?

Lighting brightens up an environment. In landscape lighting the fixture is secondary to the effect. Good landscape lighting will direct the eye toward what you want to see – i.e., shrubs, trees, garden, statue, etc. Outdoor and at night, you may not even see the source of landscape lighting. However, since it is daylight 50 percent of the time, landscape lighting fixtures should be both functional and handsome.

Keeping these factors in mind, a good definition of landscape lighting can, when used in conjunction with lowered interior light levels, eliminate the “black mirror” effect and extend the psychological living space beyond the walls of the house, even during the winter months.

align="justify"Landscape lighting’s basic usage is to extend the hours when you can enjoy a garden, patio, pool, deck or porch. Therefore, it adds to the customer’s investment in “creature comforts”.

Meaning, Types & Strategies

Accent Lighting - These are intense controlled beams of light to accent your flowers, and to create a dazzling pool of interest.

Background Lighting - Light up large walls or tall trees and create an effect similar to diffused lighting.

Contour Lighting - This a type of down-lighting created with tier lights to show off the contour of the landscape, ideal for emphasizing borders and garden paths.

Cross Lighting - Lighting a tree or statue from two or more directions reveals a three dimensional perspective.

Diffused Lighting - These units cast a soft light over a wide area with a low-level illumination ideal for patios, decks and driveways.

Down-Lighting - A common technique accomplished by mounting lights high in trees to cast light over a wide area. This is your general ambient light so you can entertain in your back yard, it also helps for security and safety.

Grazing - Positioning lights close to an interesting deeply textured surface is known as grazing. The light will highlight the raised edges of the surface while casting deep dark shadows in the crevices. This emphasizes the texture of a tree, or a brick wall.

Mirror Lighting - This is achieved by lighting up a tree or other garden element so that it is reflected in a pool of water.

Moonlighting - This is much like down lighting, but you use softer lights positioned very high in a tree to simulate the effect of the moonlight filtering through the branches casting attractive shadows.

Path Lighting - These are lights used to outline paths, driveways, and steps which may look decorative but it really helps for safety and security.

Shadowing - This is similar to moonlighting but you light an object from the front and below to project the shadow on to a wall.

Silhouetting - Create a magical profile by concealing the lights behind and below a tree.

Spot Lighting - Aim a floodlight at statues or other garden elements.

Up Lighting - Lights aimed upwards at an interesting tree, large shrubs, a statue, or other architectural point of interest. Imagine the softly lit autumn leaves of your favorite tree rustling in the evening breeze.

Summit Landscape would like to extend an offer of installing a sample kit at your residence or place of business at no charge to show the effects of landscape lighting. We will temporarily install a sample system and leave it in place so that you get a feel for how landscape lighting works. Please feel free to call us if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity.