Trees stand tall and proud in your Chicagoland home landscape. The gleam green in the summer months, leaving dancing in the wind and casting great shade during sunny, warm days.
As the sun sets, though, trees become dark along with the rest of your landscape. And your once welcoming landscape can become spooky. On top of that, you lose some valuable daylight enjoyment time outdoors.
Illumination in your landscape can change all that – turning your landscape from grim to glowing in an instant. And your trees play a big role in this plan.
Let’s talk about landscape lighting for your trees that can make your home more welcoming and extend your time outside.
There are so many places in your yard where you can put landscape lighting, but your trees bring the greatest range of ideas.
There are multiple approaches to landscape lighting for trees, but the height, shape, location, and desired impact can change how you go about designing and installing the lights.
With very little light designed and positioned in the right way, your trees can become illuminated accents that add some great interest to your space, in addition to safety, security, and a bevy of bright moments in your Chicagoland yard.
Ideas for illuminating outdoor trees start with uplighting. This is when you place lights at a lower or ground level and point the light up toward the tree. Depending on the size of the tree and the viewing angles, this can also involve adding multiple fixtures on the tree canopy.
This effect creates nighttime ambiance while enhancing safety.
Professional landscaping lighting designers take into account the tree height when uplighting your trees since it can make quite a difference in your background and avoid blinding a viewer.
As directional lights, spotlights allow you to shine a beam of light exactly where you intend.
Spotlighting can illuminate outdoor trees by making them the focal points of your landscape. Maybe you have a specimen tree or one with a unique branch structure. These would be excellent choices for well-placed and well-designed spotlights, transforming your trees into architectural elements.
You can also illuminate trees by using their tall structures as bases for downlighting.
Downlighting fixtures are meant to shine light down on a scene, providing a soft effect that’s similar to nature. Think moon lighting.
Using this technique, light fixtures can be placed on tree trunks or large tree limbs. Fixtures do best when they are expertly hidden, eliminating safety and security risks in the form of the shadows and dark spaces trees can bring in the night.
This technique for illuminating outdoor trees can create quite a bit of drama.
A tree near a patio or retaining wall, for instance, can be used in partnership with a tree to create dramatic shadows that can be manipulated based on placement for a subtle effect or a more impactful one.
This is usually done best when focusing on one unique and amazing tree versus a group of trees.
Illuminating trees in your garden can also be done through the use of hanging lanterns or small lights that add charm and twinkle to your patio or backyard.
If you also have a water feature nearby, the reflection in the water adds another visual of dancing light for an eye-catching, magical display.
You take care of your trees, and they look amazing during the day.
But when the sun sets and those trees disappear into the night, do you find that you miss them? You might miss their tall strength and their great stature and amazing branch structure.
We understand. We’d miss them, too.
Hopefully these landscaping lighting ideas for trees give you some inspiration into how illumination can elevate your backyard appeal and functionality.
When you look at all of the tactics out there for landscape lighting your trees, it can feel overwhelming. Let KD Landscape take that worry off of your plate. We are experts at installing high-end landscape lighting in Greater Chicago area trees and can instantly deliver increased security and more usable time in your yard, as well as bring your trees to life at the same time.
Ready to see how KD Landscape can keep you entertaining and enjoying the outdoors into the evening hours? We’d love to share our design and installation expertise with you. Get started today with a free consultation. Together, we can prepare a plan that works best for lighting your trees.