Position and automate your garden lights with the help of Philips Hue
Make your garden lights automatic and fuss-free, with the help of this guide from Philips Hue
Where should I put my garden lights?
The position of your lights can make all the difference to the overall look and feel of your outdoor space. You don’t want to have lights positioned in places where they will glare and affect your vision, and potentially annoy your neighbours. It’s crucial to consider where the light will fall. Light trespass can be very distressing for people, so make sure your lights aren’t shining into neighbours’ gardens or windows. When setting up your Philips Hue outdoor lights, check what they look like during the day, but make sure to test them at night. It’s important to make sure they look good both on and off.
Secondly, think about what it is you want to light. All light must have a purpose. Is it an area you’ll need to use at night? Lighting that works for a bank holiday barbecue won’t be needed on a rainy Tuesday in January, and not every plant needs to be highlighted.
The Philips Hue Lily XL spotlight (£129.99) is a great way to uplight trees or key features. Using the pivoting spotlight and the removeable glare shield, you can pinpoint the right angle and focus to beautify your garden without polluting the night sky.
Protecting wildlife
Importantly, the position of your lights can also affect wildlife, particularly bats. These fascinating flying mammals work long nights on pest control. Take pipistrelles, for example; despite being the size of a matchbox, these bats need to eat 3,000 insects a night, according to Danielle Roberston, Snowdonia National Park’s Dark Sky Officer. A healthy local bat population can keep you free of midges, mosquitos and gnats all summer. However, most bat species avoid direct light, and some won’t fly through light at all. A badly placed bright light can mean that bats are trapped in their roosts and starve.
That’s why it’s a good idea to create a ‘bat corridor’ in your garden. Keep your fixtures as low to the ground as possible, and as low Kelvin as possible. Kelvin is a measure of your lights’ temperature - not how hot they are, but how ‘warm’ the hue of your light is. Cool lighting of around 1000K is about the hue and brightness of candlelight; 4000K is around the hue and brightness of fluorescent office lighting. If the temperature of your lighting is too high, it will disrupt bats’ sleep cycles and keep them inside. It also makes them more likely to fall prey to cats and other common garden predators.
Taken together, low-down, low-Kelvin lighting will give bats space to fly above your lights and keep up their good work. This also means your lights won’t affect your neighbours. If you’re looking for a smart light that helps keep your garden disruption free, the Philips Hue Lily lights (3 pack base kit | £274.99) are a great choice. You can easily change the direction of the spotlights to make sure they are not pointing at the sky, disrupting the bats & birds.
Remember, our plants are connected to the natural light cycles too, so ensure you have timed your lights to go off when you have finished outside so that they all get a chance to rest. It’s also not the best idea to light your prized petunias, as it’s been proven that light attracts slugs and snails. The Philips Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor (£44.99) is one way you can make sure your lights aren’t on all the time. The motion sensor can be set up to trigger your smart lights automatically when it senses motion or when you need them most.