Top 9 Tips for Finding & Setting Up the Best Landscape Lights for Trees

Landscape lighting is one of the best ways to highlight your fantastic yard, and it's an easy way to make it look unique. Landscape lighting is a great way to show off parts of your yard that you are proud of, and it's simple to install. If you want to know a bit more about landscape lighting for your trees and how you can use it, have a look at this list to see the top tips for finding and setting up the best landscape lighting for trees.

1. Choose your space

Adding your lighting will all depend on what you are looking to show off, so you need to start by choosing the areas that you would like to highlight. You can either light the trees themselves by placing your lights within the leaves or choose a spotlight system to highlight them from below. This will all depend on the type of trees you have and how high you would like the lighting to be.

Installing lighting in your trees sounds like a good idea, but remember that you will need to climb up there anytime it needs to be repaired. There are plenty of lights that will require minimal maintenance (like something that runs on solar power or an LED with long battery life), but you want something that will last a long time if it's going to be installed up high and out of reach. The best landscape lighting for your trees might not be the best for your lifestyle, so you need to consider this. 

2. Figure out how much lighting you will need

You likely have an idea in mind when it comes to your yard lighting but if you are confused, ask a local landscaping expert to help you figure out which trees can benefit from some good lighting. Too many outdoor lights can be distracting, and in some places, you can actually get in trouble with your city for excessive brightness, so it's crucial to find a good balance. 

You want to look at your yard from different angles before you start, so try and take some photos in the daytime and nighttime so you can see what others see when they approach the home. You want a good balance between lights and shadows, which will give the home depth. This might mean that you need a combination of downlight and uplighting to achieve the right effect.

3. Check out your tree types

Different trees have different leaf types, and you will also need to keep that in mind for your lighting. You want the lights to hit the trees and show them off instead of going through them to highlight a random spot in your yard. If you have a sparse tree, a dimmer light will do a better job of hitting the right places.

You also need to worry about the size of the trees and how much more they will end up growing in the next few years. Large trees will likely need more than one light to illuminate the whole thing, but you can get away with one light for smaller trees that have a bit more width. Uplights are one of the best ways to do this, and the FR by FXLuminaire is a great option for beautiful uplights. 

4. Choose your main focus

Lighting the trees is a great way to make your yard bright, but you can also use lighting in your trees to make certain areas feel more secure. If you have a sitting area that is used often, you can install some downlights in the trees, so you don't need to worry about going inside after the sun sets. These are perfect for areas that have lots of tree coverage, as the dense branches end up hiding the natural moonlight and the TS by FXLuminaire is perfect for this. 

You can also use downlights in your trees that are motion-sensors, which will allow you to see if there is anything coming through your yard. If you have an issue with wild animals or a problem with security, then these are fantastic ideas. They are a great deterrent to anything that might be coming into your yard, and they allow you to see what's moving around outside without leaving the comfort of your home. 

5. Keep it hidden

How do you illuminate an outdoor tree without exposing any lights? Hidden lights are a great way to make the area around the tree illuminated from below, and they are the best way to ensure that your lights don't get damaged, so look for a light like the TE by FXLuminaire.  One thing you need to consider when placing your lights is potential interference from people that happen to be nearby. If you use landscapers or you have a family that likes to roam around the yard, then you need to place your lights in areas where they are unlikely to be distributed. 

One great way to do this is to look for lights that are designed to be hidden. There are plenty of different uplights and downlights that provide you with a good amount of brightness without sticking straight out of the ground. These lights are commonly called in-grade lights, and they sit flat against the ground and shine upwards to provide the area directly above it with tons of illumination. 

6. Have some fun with it

Most landscape lighting you see is done with either a yellow-to-orange tone or a pure white tone, but you don't have to play by those rules if you don't want to. LED lights have become very popular for their ability to change colour so easily, and many people have set up their landscape lighting systems with coloured lights so they can adjust them for the season.

Adjustable LED lights are a fun way to add some personality to your basic lighting system, and they can be a great way to accentuate your home's holiday decorations in an instant. You can adjust them to spooky red for some quick Halloween decor or go with traditional red and green for the holidays. This outdoor tree lighting idea is a fantastic way to add some fun and funky lighting to your house without dragging out the Christmas lights from the basement. 

7. Use colour in clever ways

You don't have to wait until the holidays to start changing the colour of your lights. Some areas actually look much better when they are highlighted with a combination of soft-coloured lights. Greens and reds combine together to give a soft glow that accentuates your trees from different areas. 

You can also use blue lights to add a bit of crispness to your existing white lights or green lights to add some extra lushness to your greenery. Coloured accent lights are a great idea for homes that already have a modern-looking theme or for homes that are looking for something that's going to stand out from the rest. 

8. Test it out

Once you have your lighting system in place, the best way to see how everything looks is by testing it at nighttime. You want to make sure you see everything from all angles and from far away so you can get a better idea of how it all looks together. 

The best way to make sure your home looks great is to get in your car and do a quick drive-by from both sides. You might find that your focus is all wrong, or the lighting looks unbalanced from certain angles. Nighttime is the best time to do any tests or adjustments to your lighting system, as you'll be able to see every light clearly.

9. Choose your style

When it comes to outdoor lights, there are usually two options: wired and solar. Experts agree that solar lights are much dimmer, they look cloudier, and they don't seem to have the same spread that wired lights can achieve. They are also much easier to adjust or control, which is ideal for anyone who wants to change their lighting with the seasons. 

On the other hand, other people prefer solar-powered lights due to the fact that they are eco-friendly and much easier to install on your own. Most of them require being screwed or staked into place, and there are no extra wires to worry about. They are also typically less expensive than a full landscape setup, but they still can't compare to a professional lighting job. 

Good lighting is a quick way to add curb appeal to your home and make it much more appealing to potential buyers. There are so many things you need to consider when it comes to adding lighting to your yard to accentuate your fantastic-looking trees. You need to make sure you are adding the right lights to the right areas, or the whole thing will look messy and disorganized. Ask a local landscaping expert to help you out so you can make sure you are getting the best light look for your home.