This first shot shows the little pond and waterfall surrounded by planting beds. The light on the left was left with a full length stem. Eryn wanted the light on the right to be shorter (I didn’t ask why) so I only used half the stem when I put it in. They have plans to install a light in the pond so that the water and waterfall are illuminated from below but that’s a whole other installation effort entirely. This kit is NOT designed for underwater lighting. For now, the objective was just to light up the ferns and other plants around the pond a little so they can enjoy them at night.

This next image shows the way we used uplighting to cast dramatic shadows on the privacy fence on one side of their yard. I would have preferred the light to be set back a little further and angled down a hair so the full shadow of the palm hit the wall. Unfortunately the planting area is narrow so I could only move the light back so far. The result is that the top of the shadow gets cut off at the top of the fence. Still, it’s a dramatic look and you can see why they want another spot light so they can create an entire panorama of palm shadows on their fence with the 2 other palms in their garden. As for that tiki torch, I think it needs a home outside the lighting scheme, but they love seeing it all lit up.

The image above shows how the 2nd spotlight in the kit was angled to illuminate the trunk of the tree. Though not visible in the picture, the wash of light spreads nicely into the canopy as well. In a perfect world I’d want one more spot light placed behind the camera to splash even more light into the leaves above. Who knows… they have enough wattage to accommodate one so maybe they’ll make my dream a reality someday.

What you should remember with any uplighting effort is to place the landscape light so that it isn’t shining back towards the viewer in anyway. That’s almost impossible to accomplish in some cases so you have to make compromises. In this case, for example, the area most often occupied is behind the light in the brick patio area. Anybody walking in through the gate at night, however, would be a bit blinded. Rick and Eryn swear that nobody comes through that gate at night so, in this case, there isn’t much concern with it blinding anybody.

Finally, here’s a shot capturing most of their humble little garden. There are a pair of tier lights behind the lounge chairs you see in this picture. A pair of interesting potted plants live there and I’d like to see one of them spotlit to cast a tremendous shadow against the brick of the house, but the English ivy covering much of the brick would ruin the result.

As I already mentioned, Rick and Eryn love the result. It really is pretty nice for a couple hours of unexpected labor. The point for you, dear reader, is that just about anybody can install landscape lighting and get results like this. Better, even, if you have a yard that lends itself particularly well to being lit. So don’t let a false fear of complexity scare you off of the idea. This is something well within your grasp and the results you get, if you follow what you’ve learnt here and in my other posts, can be simply stunning.

As mentioned in our previous post, plan your layout. Don’t just factor in the functional lighting you want around borders, but also pick the special items you want to spotlight. This can be a statue, ornamental plants, trees, etc. Remember you can backlight plants for great silhouettes or light them from the front to cast dramatic shadows against walls.

Once you know were you’ll stick your lights in the ground, plan how you want to run the low voltage cable. Allow a little slack between lights for changes, additions or adjustments later. While you’re at it, decide if you want to bury the cable or cover it with mulch. Burying the cable will mean more work and I’d suggest you dig the trench before moving forward. Also remember that you’ll want about 12 inches of leftover cable at the end of your light run.

Decide where you’ll hang the power pack. Make sure the mount point is close enough to your gfi for the power cord to reach. If the transformer has a photoreceptor (the Malibu 8301-9907-08 8 Piece Metal Tier Light Kit includes a power pack with this technology) then you should mount the power pack so that it properly detects the ambient light. If you mount it in a heavily shaded area, your lights might come on earlier than you’d like.

What you'll find in the box

I think about covers the initial considerations. Let’s get to the good stuff.

The 8 piece landscape lighting kit includes all of the items you see pictured above, but here’s an itemized list.

• 6 tier lights
• 6 stems
• 6 center ring dividers (for the tier lights) which should already be on the light but loose
• 6 caps (for the top of the tier lights)
• 6 stakes (to stick the lights into the ground)
• 2 spotlights
• 1 power pack
• 1 75′ low-voltage cable

CAUTION: Do NOT touch the bulbs of the lights during any of the following steps. The oils on your fingers can cause the bulbs to burst when they turn on.

Step 1 – Start by assembling your tier lights. To do so, install the center ring which you can mount high or low depending on how you want the light to cast. The ring has notches that allow it to slide up or down through the beveled exterior of the light. A simple twist locks them in place.

Step 2 – Attach the cap to the top of the tier light. This is another simple step. Just place it on top and twist to secure.

Step 3 – The light stems are in two parts. If you want to take advantage of the full height available, combine the two pieces. If you want a lower profile, leave these disconnected.

Step 4 – Insert the stem into the bottom of the light. Be careful here. If you attempt to force it too strongly you might break the plastic insert area. Also, do a good job of lining everything up so the top of the light doesn’t sit crooked on the stem.

Step 5 – Finally, insert the plastic stake into the bottom of the stem. There’s a notch cut in the stake through which the wiring should run.

While you’re going through the process of assembling the tier lights, take a look at the wiring. You’ll notice the ends of the wires have a black clip and a gray clip. You don’t need to do anything with them now but what you should understand is that these are the sections that attach to the low voltage cable you’ll lay down later. Each of these clips has a little metal “tooth” and when you clip the two parts together with the low-voltage cable in between, these “teeth” each penetrate the plastic sheathing of the low-voltage cable to make contact with the copper wire inside.

It’s a very simple and easy way of connecting the lights to the cable and will make more sense when we get to that step. I just wanted to interject it here since you’re already working with the lights. Let’s move on.

Step 6 – Unspool the 75′ low-voltage cable. You’ll notice one end has a rubber cap and the other end has already been clipped to expose the two copper wires inside (the clipped ends may still have the rubber sheathing loosely attached. Just slip the clipped rubber off the ends and you’re ready to move on to the next step).

Step 7 – Flip the power pack over and you’ll see two screws. Simply insert one of the copper wires from the low-voltage cable under one of the plates and tighten the screw. Repeat this with the second wire under the second screw and plate. You might need to loosen each of the screws to get the wire under the plates. The picture to the left should give you an idea of what the end result should look like.

Step 8 – Mount the power pack near your gfi outlet. Remember to keep the power pack at least 12 inches off the ground. Depending on the model transformer you have, you’ll need one or two screws to hang it. For the landscape lighting kit we used, one screw was all that was required. Rick’s home is an all brick town home so we used a masonry screw to mount our power pack. We’d already tested the layout and knew the transformer would be mounted close enough to the gfi for the plug to reach.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT plug the power pack into the gfi socket yet. You will do so only after all the lights are connected to the low-voltage cable.

Step 9 – Once mounted, run out the low-voltage cable along the route you planned for your lights. If you want to bury the cable, dig your trench first and then follow this step. If you plan to simply cover the cable with mulch, just loosely run it along the path you planned.

Step 10 – With the low-voltage cable loosely run, insert each of the lights into the ground. It’s very important that you loosen the soil first. You can do so by saturating the spot with water or by loosening the dirt with a trowel. When you push the light into the ground, be sure to push from the thumb tab at the top of the stake and not from the metal light stem or light top or you might break the stake. Take a look at each light from different angles to make sure they aren’t leaning in one direction or another. Leaning won’t hamper operation but will detract from aesthetics.

Intermission: Speaking of aesthetics, if you have spotlights in your kit, this is where their placement comes into play. Rick’s kit included two spotlights and we decided during our planning stage how we wanted to use each one. The first spotlight would uplight a small palm so that its shadow would spread dramatically along their privacy fence at night. The second spotlight near the end of the run would serve to uplight the tree in their garden, bathing the trunk and the leaves above in warm light.

I’ve written plenty about aesthetic considerations and techniques in past posts so I won’t go into much detail here but, if you have spotlights, these are what will really help you beautify your garden. Take the time to plan ahead and adjust accordingly. Now back to the instructions.

Step 11 – Connect each light to the low-voltage cable. Remember you have a black and gray clip at the end of the wire coming from the light and that your low-voltage cable is actually made up of two parallel cables. You want to clip the two clips together with the low-voltage cable in between so that the tooth from one clip punctures one side of the low-voltage cable and the tooth from the other clip punctures the other side.

You may find yourself skeptical that the tooth has actually punctured the cable. If the black and gray clips have joined together properly, you’re probably ok. Rick wanted to take them apart and try again with each light but I assured him it was easier than he thought. It really doesn’t take much penetration to make contact. Don’t dwell on it too much. You’ll know at the end when you turn the lights on to test if it all worked out.

Reminder: Remember that you should have 12 inches of spare cable at the end of your run.

Step 12 – You might be tempted to bury your low-voltage cable or cover it with mulch at this stage. Don’t. If any of your lights didn’t clip well enough, you’ll need to try reconnecting them. So step 12 is to actually test your lights. Plug your power pack into your gfi outlet and turn turn its selector knob to the on position. Verify that each of the lights in your run comes on. If one doesn’t power on, unplug the power pack and check the black and gray clips. Verify that they are properly connected and that the metal teeth appear to penetrate the low voltage cable. Try pushing the clips together a bit tighter and plug in the power pack again. Does it light?

If everything seems to be in order but the bulb still doesn’t light up, unplug the power pack again and then try replacing the bulb in the failed light. If that still doesn’t work, unplug the power pack again and then disconnect the light entirely from the low voltage cable. Inspect the metal teeth and verify they aren’t bent or broken. If they are, time to take the light back to the store.

Step 13 – If everything works to your expectations, bury your low-voltage cable or cover it with mulch. You can also do a preliminary adjustment on your spotlights at this stage but you’ll be better off waiting until the Sun goes down to get a real feel for the end results.

Step 14 – Turn the selector knob on your power pack to the setting you’d like. With the Malibu kit we used, the options are on, off, auto, 4hr, 6hr or 8hr. On and Off are just that. Auto turns the light on at night and off again in the morning. The hour settings turn the light on automatically when it gets dark and off again after the set hours have elapsed.

Step 15 – ENJOY!

Ok, it took 15 steps to write up these instructions for installing a Malibu landscape lighting kit. But, let’s be honest, these are all easy steps. Installing the lights in Rick and Eryn’s garden took between 1 and 2 hours but, truth told, a LOT of that was time wasted chatting and goofing off. As a beginner, you’ll probably do fine estimating about 2 hours for an 8 light set which includes the minimal assembly the lights require.

Eryn and Rick opted to leave one light out for now. They’ll take the time to consider where they want it later and add it into the mix. But they absolutely loved the look of the uplit palm shadow on their fence and they’ve decided they really want to get another palm and another spotlight to add to the string so that they can paint their entire privacy fence with palm shadows.

The power pack with their kit is a 150 watt transformer. The bulbs they’ve used add up to only 75 watts. Add in the missing light and they’ll have used only 82 watts out of the potential 150. That gives them ample leftover wattage for up to two more 20 watt spotlights.

There you have it, folks. Simple step by step instructions for how to install a Malibu landscape lighting kit. Have fun and be safe.

Ok, so it’s time to continue our story. Actually, forget about the story. You had enough of that in the last post leading up to this one in which I introduced my devious friends and the sneaky way in which they lured this poor, unsuspecting blogger into installing landscape lighting in their garden. Read that post by clicking here if you’d like to know how easy it is to pull the wool over my eyes.

Today’s article, though, represents what you need to get started installing Malibu landscape lighting kits. It is specific to the Malibu 8 pack metal landscape lighting kit, but it will serve you for just about any Malibu landscape lighting kit. Now that I think about it, though, a bit more of the story needs telling to bring us up to speed. I’ll try to be quick about it.

As I mentioned, Rick and Eryn live in a townhouse so their garden is modest in size. It’s something around 25′ x 25′ with planting beds surrounding a brick patio on most sides and a small pond and waterfall in one corner. Shading the entire setting is a tree near the brick wall of the garden. The tree is nothing spectacular; I don’t even know the species, but it does have interesting branches and bark texture.

Though Eryn has a healthy green thumb, their dog, Chloe, has done a heck of a number on the soil in most of the garden. Suffice to say that not much grows in several sections. They’ve gotten around that by relying heavily on potted plants. Aside from that, the garden’s east and west sides are flanked with wooden privacy fences supporting a few mounted planters. And with that in mind you have an idea of the garden layout.

As Rick and I drove to his local Home Depot, he was already engaging in the most common mistake beginners make as they plan landscape lighting. He was hell bent on overdoing it. Without me along, the guy would have happily settled on three or four times more illumination than he needed. I reminded him that less was more. When that didn’t suffice, I suggested he just buy a massive halogen porch light and saturate the whole yard in excess illumination. Cheaper and more appropriate for the task, I told him. Fortunately the price of the landscape lighting kits did all the arguing for me.

I’d convinced Rick to go with metal lights. As I’ve mentioned here before, plastic landscape lighting kits are definitely less expensive. Unfortunately they are also dimmer due to the fact that plastic melts easily so the brilliance of the bulbs they can handle must be dimmer. Brighter bulbs equate to greater heat. In our walk-through of the garden before we left I’d told Rick I wanted to incorporate spotlights into the plan to up-light the interesting tree and some potted palms. To do so, we’d need a higher wattage bulb and that meant going with metal lights.

So, I’d done a good job of talking up the value of up-lighting and the consequential requirements for metal landscape lights. Of course, metal lights cost more and that cost limited Rick’s enthusiasm nicely. We settled on an 8 piece light kit that met all of our criteria and would even allow for a little expansion if required. And that, my friends, is where we transition from story to instruction.

How to Plan for Installing a Malibu Landscape Lighting Kit

Let me start by telling you that installing this kit is easy as pie. It doesn’t matter if you’re completely new to this kind of thing. What does matter is that you have an outlet outdoors. This is called a GFCI or ground fault circuit interrupter. To you uninitiated out there, it’ll look much like any old outlet. If you don’t have an outlet outside you’ll need an electrician to install one. Otherwise, all you’ll need for the work ahead is a screwdriver, a hand shovel to loosen dirt and an hour or two of spare time. Oh, and you’ll want to decide ahead of time if you want to go through the hassle of burying the low-voltage cable or just cover it with mulch. The latter is obviously the easier choice.

The kit I helped Rick pick is the Malibu 8301-9907-08 8 Piece Metal Tier Light Kit. Don’t let the title mislead you because it contains more than just tier lights. It contains 6 tier lights but also 2 spotlights. Also included in the kit is a 150 watt power pack and 75′ of cable.
Now the first thing you should do when purchasing a low voltage landscape lighting kit is to ensure that the included cable length is adequate for your needs. In our case, 75′ was more than ample. We’d measured our needs at about 40 feet but estimated another 10 to 15 feet thanks to twists and turns. We’d have plenty cable left over.

What size power pack do I need for my Malibu landscaping lights

The second thing you should do is ensure the power pack included in your kit is adequate for your needs. This seems one of the more common questions home owners ask as they consider how they can change up their layout. Whether they want to add some more creative lighting with spotlights or simply extend some lights down a path, they either don’t know that their power pack’s wattage is an important factor or they don’t know how to calculate how many lights they can get away with.

Fortunately it isn’t hard to figure out. All you need to do is add up the wattage of your lights and ensure your power pack provides more wattage. For example, the 8 pack kit Rick purchased includes a 150 watt power pack (also called a transformer). The 6 tier lights are 7 watts each for a total of 42 watts. The two spotlights are 20 watts each for a total of 40 watts. Add the two together and you get 82 watts. The 150 watt transformer is more than adequate and will allow Rick to add in additional lights if he wants to do so down the road.

The final thing you want to do is make sure you know how you want your end results to look. This can actually be the most difficult part of the whole endeavor. It requires more than just trying to decide where your lights will be planted but also how you want to illuminate features. As I mentioned, Rick has some ornamental palms and a tree with some interesting features that I felt could be exploited in the lighting layout for some great results.

As you look around your garden, take note of plants that would cast dramatic shadows if lit by a spotlight. Look at the background on which those shadows will be cast. Examine trees that might do well being lit from below or statuary to which you’d like to call attention. Also take into account boundaries and borders that represent tripping hazards. Remember that those tier lights can do more than just outline paths and borders for safety. They can also help planting beds “pop” at night.

Ok, I’m past my second page of typed text so I think I’ll wrap it up. I want the actual instruction element to stand on its own rather than be buried at the end of a long story. For now you have a good understanding of what you need to get started and what planning you should do before you head off to the store. Check back soon for the full landscape lighting kit installation instructions.

Fortunately today gives me the opportunity to write about both practical and aesthetic elements of garden lighting because I just finished installing some lights at my friend’s house over the weekend and I loved the finished product. First a little background.

Rick is my wife’s friend from childhood. He’s since become one of my best pals. His wife, Eryn, is also my dear friend. Truth told, my wife has more in common with Rick (sharing his love of sports and animals) and I have more in common with Eryn (sharing a strong creative gene and a matched talent for delivering deadpan humor). Get the four of us together and we’re like a deck of cards; constantly shuffling between each other as our conversations meander.

But I digress from my intended point which is that Rick and I are constantly bartering debt. Not monetary debt, mind you, but obligatory debt. I’ll remind him he owes me a favor since I helped him move into the home he and his wife share only to have him remind me of the hours he spent helping me install my brick patio. I’ll remind him about the time I picked him up from a bar downtown at 3 in the morning after he locked his keys in his car, he’ll remind me that he once rushed me to the hospital after a baseball nailed me in the head. Round and round our debt cycle goes and, wouldn’t you know it, I came up due this weekend.

My wife and I received a call from Eryn Wednesday evening. My wife spent the first 30 minutes chatting and catching up before handing me the phone for another hour of chatting. As I grilled Eryn on her latest writing project I could hear Rick in the background repeatedly asking her to ask me something. She eventually got to it and asked me if my wife and I had any weekend plans. I told her we had nothing on our plate. She invited Kathleen and I up to their house for the weekend.

Ordinarily Kathleen and I would jump at the opportunity to spend time with our friends but I hesitated before responding. I’ve just started a new job, you see. It’s the kind of job where the very success of an entire contract depends on the skills I’m bringing to the table and that’s a tremendous amount of pressure. I was really looking forward to a relaxing weekend doing nothing more than kicking back and working on my recently neglected love affair with the big screen TV in my den.

Eryn could sense my hesitation and knew just what to do to convince me to come. “I’ll make margaritas…” She dangled the offer like a carrot. I told her that sounded nice but she could hear the hesitation in my voice so she upped the ante, “ and Rick will grill dinner…” Sold! Rick is an incredible cook.

The truth is that I would have likely caved even without the meal and drinks as bait. Mind you, I rarely drink but their company always mellows me enough to do so. We love Rick and Eryn and it’s those late night conversations over drinks we share with them that help recharge our batteries and make these trips worth taking. The food… well that’s just a bonus. What I didn’t realize was that I’d just been suckered.

Little did I know that Rick had other plans in mind. Sure, there would be food on the grill. Yes, there would be ice cold drinks. But what Kathleen and I didn’t realize was that we’d be working hard for every bit of it this weekend. See, a debt was coming due and Rick had his mind on landscape lighting.

In fact, when we pulled up to the house a couple hours before dusk Friday night, Eryn was in the backyard of their humble town house gardening. Rick met us at the door and promptly took us out back to say hello. In just a matter of minutes my wife was elbow deep in potting soil and mulch, helping Eryn wrap up the tropical getaway look they were going for. I, super smart guy that I am, managed to escape immediate labor by asking Rick if he had a beer.

As the ladies worked on the finishing touches in the garden, Rick and I sipped beers and caught up on the goings on in our lives. The ladies interrupted an hour later, driven from the garden by the setting sun. The interruption lasted only long enough to dispense sweaty hugs before both girls adjourned to shower and change. Separately, folks. This was a G-rated weekend.

While they primped, Rick and I prepared the grill, steaks and potatoes. As we worked, the conversation turned to my blogging efforts. I maintain several blogs related to my hobbies and interests and Rick has even contributed content to one of them. “What about your landcape lighting blog,” he asked, “you still doing that one?”

I told Rick that, while the blog was still there, I hadn’t done much with it lately. Other than backing over my wife’s flowers, there wasn’t much in my personal life to write about. “It was a long winter,” I reminded him, “and we still have to restore the yard from all that snow.” I went on to tell him I’d be writing some less personal stuff for the blog soon; product reviews and the like.

I should have caught on when he responded with a simple grunt. There was something hidden in that monosyllabic sound; the promise of content soon to come. That hidden promise was delivered in what I suspect was a well rehearsed act put on by our hosts the following morning over breakfast. It went something like this -

Rick: Hey, Honey, did you know that Dave hasn’t been keeping up on his landscaping blog?

Eryn: Really? That’s too bad, Dave. Has the muse left you?

Me: No, I’m writing plenty on my other blogs but I…

Rick interrupting: He just hasn’t had much content to add lately. Weren’t we just talking about adding some landscaping lights to the backyard. Maybe we can get some work out of him while he’s here.

Eryn: Oh, Dave, would you? I want my garden to look like yours!

That last was delivered with much batting of eyelids, a pout and a flirtatious touch on my arm. It could have only been more classically staged and ripe with girlish manipulation if she had immediately followed the touch on the arm by asking me if I’d been working out. My wife snickering behind her hand made it all too clear that I’d been played like a  virgin Vegas tourist. I turned a steely gaze on Rick and expressed my enthusiasm, “you tricky bastard. You’re cooking me swordfish for dinner tonight.”

While my wife and Eryn headed out to do some shopping – and to pick up my swordfish steak for grilling that night – Rick and I jumped in his Jeep for the short drive to Home Depot for a light kit. As much as I’d like to hold it against him for making me work on a weekend, the truth is that he did provide me landscape lighting material.

But I’ve spent enough time on the background to this story that I think I’ll wrap things up here for now and will get to the heart of the matter over the next few days. It has proven to be a busy week at work so far and don’t expect that to slow down anytime soon so I won’t make any promises on timing. But, I do promise that the follow-up to this post will be a complete guide to installing an 8 piece, metal, Malibu landscape lighting kit. There are pictures and plenty tips on creativity to share.

Given the small size of Rick’s yard, the results were pretty darn impressive. He’s thrilled, Eryn loves me and I have material to share. I guess it was worth the effort. Oh, and the swordfish was amazing! Check back soon for the guide!

We spend a lot of time discussing the aesthetic value of landscape lighting on this site. After all, it’s the beauty of a well lit garden at night that attracts most people to the concept. But the truth is that there are some truly practical reasons to install landscape lighting that deserve equal billing including safety considerations. We’ll be focusing on driveway lighting today thanks to a recent “discussion” with my wife.

The discussion in question occurred the morning following my late night return home from a business trip. I had a sense of what it would be about because as I backed into our darkened driveway the night before I felt the distinct change from tires on paving stone to tires on distinctly softer fare. But I was beat and didn’t give it much thought. What damage could I have done to the lawn anyway, right?

Not much, it turned out. But I did a hell of a number on the planting bed my wife had spent the weekend on. She wasn’t pleased and my defensiveness didn’t help. But what could I do, right? It wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t because I was indifferent to her hard work that I ran over the early spring flowers. Ultimately it was because we don’t have any driveway lights and the light from our porch lights or any of our other landscaping lights doesn’t reach that particular curve in the driveway.

So the next step of course is to consider my options. Believe it or not there are several to consider. Solar driveway lights, the trusty mushroom style lights and even paver lights come immediately to mind. There’s also the option of installing lights in the trees along my driveway to downlight the area but that’s a bit more effort than I feel like investing right now so let’s consider the other options.

Solar lights are great for one reason only; they’re simple. There’s no low voltage wire to run and no digging to worry about. The downside, of course, is that they don’t give off much light. That’s not a problem for this application because I’m not looking too illuminate the entire driveway. Driveway lighting need do little more than outline the borders of your driveway. Unfortunately the shade from the trees in my yard means the lights won’t get enough sun.

Installing low voltage edge lighting along the perimeter of the driveway might be an option. It will require a bit more work than solar lights because I have to run the cable for it, but it will guarantee me strong illumination that’s certain to come on regardless how much sunlight we’ve had during the day. My big concern here is that these above-ground lights will complicate mowing and there’s always the slim – cough – possibility that I could run over and break one of them.

Paver lights are my preferred choice. These replace existing pavers or can be planted in the grass along the edge of the driveway. Better yet, they are recessed so I don’t have to worry about anybody running over them. Ideally I’d install them in the existing pave design but that might be problematic. That’s an option best left for new driveway installations. Retrofitting an existing driveway can be a serious challenge.

The point of this post, though, is to point out that you shouldn’t think of landscape lighting simply in terms of beautifying your garden. Whether you’re installing driveway lights or garden lights you should recognize they also serve a utilitarian purpose and any lighting consideration should be approached with beauty, safety and function in mind. Or you can elect to run over your wife’s daffodils and deal with the consequences the following morning if that floats your boat.

The two elements keeping the rest of us out were cost and installation. Actually, cost was a two-parter in its own right. Not only were the lights expensive, but installation wasn’t something your average Joe or Jane could readily tackle as earlier landscape lighting options were relatively dangerous electrical things to install. So purchasing the lights was prohibitive and paying a professional electrician to do the work placed the option outside many people’s range. But then came Malibu.

I’m not talking about everybody’s favorite Baywatch destination, I’m talking about the landscape lighting company (and others like it) famous for making landscape lighting accessible to the rest of us through the production of low-cost, safe, low-voltage, easy to install landscape lighting kits. If you’ve spent any time in a hardware store looking for a reasonably priced landscape lighting option, you’ve probably seen their products.

Now I do want to clear one thing up right from the start and that’s to point out that Malibu doesn’t just make inexpensive landscape lighting kits. They are a premier maker of high end landscape lighting as well. But that’s for another post down the road. For now, recognize that if you’re in the market for super affordability, Malibu is the way to go. Don’t believe me?
The LX10610T25 Malibu outdoor landscape lighting kit featured in the image above is just one example of how accessible Malibu has made things to the budget-conscious consumer. This kit contains 10 low-volt tier lights, a 44-watt power pack and a 50 foot cable. How much would you pay for all that? Well if this weren’t a kit, probably hundreds. As it is a kit, I’m looking at it on Amazon for only $27.00.

Other kits by Malibu include the Intermatic LX19610T25 Malibu Outdoor Tier Light/Floodlight Kit with Six One-Light Tier Lights, Four One-Light Floodlights and 44-Watt Power Pack which ships with six single light tier lights, four one-light floodlights and a 44-watt power pack and cable. That one runs a bit more at $31.21 but is still remarkably priced given the number of lights you’re getting.

For those of you with bigger ambitions or larger property to cover, Amazon also sells the Intermatic LX19720T Malibu Outdoor Lighting Kit with Fourteen Tier Lights, Six Floodlights plus 88-Watt Power Pack/Timer, Black. That’s 20 lights, folks, and the cost was around $57.00 for all of that. There have been some complaints surrounding shipping so the product is under review at the moment but I’m sure it will be available again soon. I suspect you’re wondering what the catch is, and, yes, there is one.

I won’t rehash it all here, but there are some sacrifices you make buying an affordable landscape lighting kit in terms of brightness. You can read my extensive post covering the pros and cons of plastic landscape lighting kits for more details but, in a nutshell, the lower melting point of plastic limits the wattage of the bulbs. The good news is that Malibu also offers metal landscape lighting kits which, while pricier than the plastic models, are relatively affordable compared to what you might pay buying lights individually. The kit pictured below, the Malibu LT13976T Low Voltage Garden Light Kit with Four 7-Watt Metal Tier Lights and Two 20-Watt Metal Floodlights, Black comes in at $117 but is metal and offers much higher wattage per light than plastic models.

Don’t Give Up on Plastic Landscape Lighting Kits

But there are also tremendous upsides to plastic kits. Not only are landscape lighting kits such as those sold by Malibu inexpensive to purchase, they are also inexpensive to replace. If a light breaks due to a careless maneuver with a lawnmower, for example, replacing that light will be dirt cheap. Plastic also weathers well, is surprisingly durable and virtually indistinguishable from metal at night. But all those things aside, my big passion for Malibu landscape lighting kits and for the company in general is that their products are super easy to install.

As stated in the product descriptions above, Malibu kits (and non kits) utilize a power pack that converts the 120-watts your outlet provides down to a safe wattage appropriate for your lights. What’s safe? Well, that depends on the number of lights you’re running and their wattage. Say you have eight 10-watt lights. An 88-watt power supply will cover you. Just multiply the wattage of the lights by the number of lights you’ll be using and get a power pack providing a little more juice. The good news is that you don’t even have to bother with the math if you’re installing a kit as the kit comes with an appropriately powerful power pack included!

Hooking the cable that will feed power to the lights up to the power pack is also insanely simple. If you can use a screwdriver, you can do this. The power pack then plugs into your outlet just like any electric tool or appliance and you then run the cable in the pattern you’ll be placing your lights. But the fun doesn’t end there. The next step is attaching the lights to the cable.

Now in the olden days of yore, hooking a light to a cable for outdoor use was a labor that could require waterproof conduit, wire strippers and a fair bit of electrical know-how. Malibu has turned this all into an extremely easy affair a half-stoned monkey with epilepsy could probably pull off. Attaching the lights to the power-feeding cable uses a method I’m familiar with from working with networks back in the primitive days. Rather than cutting and splicing a cable (which effectively reduces its carrying capacity each time it’s done) we could use what was known as a vampire tap to connect a branching run.

To put this into terms you non-network types can understand, basically, a short cable comes from the light and clamps onto the main power cable anywhere you find convenient. The clamp has a metal “tooth” that pierces the outer insulation to contact the copper cable inside. Once clamped, simply screw it into place and you’re done. I can’t over emphasize how simple it is. Again, if you can use a screwdriver, you can do this all yourself.

So I realized I’m going on and on with another rambling post here. I guess I should wrap things up and summarize. Malibu specializes in outdoor lighting and offers fantastic, high-end lights. But, they’ve also made landscape lighting affordable and doable for those on a budget with low-cost, low-voltage, easy-to-install landscape lighting kits. Just know what you are getting before you buy. Sorry for the self promotion but definitely read my earlier post on the upside and downside of landscape lighting kits before you make your purchase. If, after reading that post, you still feel that a kit is the perfect solution for you, you simply can’t go wrong for the price.

On the not-so-grand a scale are the little snafus that have unintended consequences. In keeping with the theme of this blog, that means landscape lighting mistakes that can really piss off your neighbors.

You wouldn’t be the first and you certainly wouldn’t be the last were you to painstakingly setup the most amazing landscape lighting scheme only to wind up with lights shining directly into your neighbor’s windows. Nor would you be the first to hear about it either directly, through nasty note or through a community board investigation. The good news is that you can do a great deal to head off any potential ill-will.

It’s worth repeating as I have in other posts, that planning is your friend. Take the time to layout your design on paper before you begin work. As you do your garden walk through and jot down on paper where you’d like to place lights, stop at each location and look beyond your own garden to see where light spillover might intrude on your neighbor. This doesn’t mean you can’t place a light in that location, just that you’ll have to work with angles and accessories to ensure you’re not intruding on their lives.

As you put your lights in and test the angle of light they cast, step back and look over at your neighbor’s property. Any light spilling over onto their house or windows should prompt you to work on the angle a bit to eliminate the spillover. Don’t assume that the small amount of spillover is fine. What looks good from your angle may be glaring from theirs.

Not every light you install will warrant such careful consideration. Path lighting is designed to spread a pool of light downwards and is low enough in intensity to prevent offending all but the most easily offended neighbor. If you have such a neighbor, the kind who is just looking for something to complain about, you probably can’t win anyway.

On the other hand, spotlights or outdoor tree lights are often elevated above fence height and produce directional light. These can easily wind up illuminating areas of your neighbor’s property so you should pay particular care as you put them in. When you purchase such lights, invest in louvers for them. Not only will this allow you additional flexibility as you paint your yard with light, it will give you even more control over how much of that light spills over to where it isn’t wanted.

As mentioned, outdoor tree lights are a cause for concern. In fact, lights mounted in trees are probably the single greatest offenders here. When you mount lights in trees for moon lighting or down-lighting a seating area, you do so with your guests in mind. You do everything you can to avoid blinding them with light. The problem is that the angle from which you are viewing may look perfectly fine but the branches which are obstructing your view of the light sources may not be doing so from your neighbor’s perspective.

Even all the caution in the world doesn’t remove the obligation to be neighborly. When everything is installed, knock on your neighbor’s door and let them know you’ll be turning on all your landscape lighting that night to ensure none of it is a nuisance to them. Advise them to check in all their most occupied rooms and to let you know if any of the lights are bothersome. If they sign off on your project, you’re good to go and you may just have made a new friend by being courteous and considerate of their feelings.

Finally, think about using timers. For the most part a fully outfitted landscape lighting scheme won’t require timers. Most of us will only use our deck lights most of the time and reserve the full light-show for when we have guests over. For those who like to have all the lights blazing in the evenings and who might plan to go away on a vacation, ensure your timers will turn off your lights at a reasonable hour so as not to disturb your neighbors with the ambient glow.

There’s no reason you can’t enjoy the beauty of landscape lighting and keep the peace with your neighbors. A little bit of planning, testing and consideration go a long way. And while you’re at it, invite your neighbors over to your gatherings now and again. They’ll be far more tolerant of your lights if they get to enjoy them now and again rather than just being forced to endure them from a distance.

Outdoor tree lights can have one of (or a combination of) four objectives. You can focus on illuminating or showcasing the tree itself, subtly illuminate the tree from within to cast interesting shadows, use the tree strictly as an anchor point for lights that will illuminate other objects or you can use the tree as a framework to show off the lights. Which approach you elect to use can be influenced by any number of considerations.

As emphasized in previous posts, showcasing any plant, statue, tree or object requires an interesting specimen. Certainly, every plant or tree is not worthy of the investment of time or energy (in terms of installation and maintenance) to be cast in a spotlight. In thinking about outdoor tree lights meant specifically to up-light, spotlight or highlight a tree, you want a tree with character. That’s a bit open to interpretation but interesting bark, leaves, color or branch shapes are your primary criteria.

I’ve covered moon lighting trees with outdoor tree lights pretty well already in a previous post. Where the previous strategy employs techniques to illuminate the outside of a tree, moon lighting works from the inside out. The effect is two-fold. You want to capture

the shape and form of a tree’s branches and/or use the interior, downward light to cast dappled shadows on the ground below.

The third option is less of a tree lighting method than it is a method of lighting other things. But, given that the lights are mounted IN tre

es, it only seems right to fit this in the outdoor tree lights category. Aside from being beautiful additions to any yard, trees are also extremely convenient in that they offer an almost infinite diversity in light mounting options. Not only are you free to mount lights to target any number of angles, branches at different height give you a fair degree of flexibility in lighting elevations and spread. This means if you have a seating area you’d like lit from above or some ornamentation that would best be shown in top-down lighting,

your tree may provide an optimal mounting location for your lights.

Finally, I mentioned using a tree as a framework for lights. Your objective in using outdoor tree lights in this presentation is to show off the lights rather than the tree. What I’m referring to here are string lights gracefully incorporated into a tree’s form so that the limbs seem to be graced by the presence of thousands of fireflies. This particular application of outdoor tree lighting takes on different forms. In some cases, the limbs of the tree are emphasized. In other instances, the overall form of the tree is shown off. Or, lights may simply be incorporated randomly within the tree much like a holiday Christmas tree.

Which approach is best suited for your particular situation depends on several factors, preference among them. But all but one can be very maintenance intensive endeavors. Not only must you run power to these lights, you must get up into the tree to do so. Climbing around like a monkey for the initial installation is only part of the battle, though. You’ll most likely undertake that activity during the day to better see what you’re doing. You’ll then need to get back into the tree in the evening to adjust any lights you aren’t happy with. Worse, you’ll likely have to repeat the effort once a year to readjust lights or change bulbs. Of all the landscape lighting options out there, outdoor tree lights probably represent the most challenging in terms of maintenance.

Of course, climbing into trees to install lights brings up some serious safety concerns. While some of this may not need mentioning, I’m going to mention it anyway. Be safe! If at all possible, use a ladder rather than climbing onto branches. What appears to be a perfectly sound branch may break once you’ve put your full weight on it. Have a helper handy to hold the ladder as well. That last emphasizes the point that you should never do this work alone. Have a spotter handy. Even if they contribute little or nothing to the effort, they are your lifeline should you fall out of the tree and be incapable of calling for help.

I am a regular rock climber. I’m not a professional, but I’m pretty good. I routinely navigate inverted surfaces and scale hundreds of feet. To put the importance of safety into context, there are those who could climb circles around me; pros, who have died while doing tree pruning for some extra money in their spare time. It only takes a fall of six feet to kill you if you land on your head or neck. So, last time, be careful, be safe, have help handy. Take whatever precautions you can, even if they seem a bit over the top. You’ll enjoy your lights a lot more if you’re alive to see them lit.

Of the outdoor tree light options listed, obviously the easiest to maintain and install is the kind in which you shine lights up into the tree. This requires no aerobatics on your part and maintenance is as simple as bending over. Though I’ll reserve specifics for a future, detailed post, your only real considerations are the types of landscaping lights you want to use (recessed, spotlight, etc) and viewing angles so as not to blind visitors to your yard. I’ll also point out an advantage to this style of lighting and that’s reflection.

You see objects and color because of light bouncing off those objects. A benefit of the nature of light is that when you illuminate an object, you also illuminate (to a much lesser degree) the objects that reflected light reaches. For a perfect example of this you just need to go outside on a clear night with a full moon. I routinely walk through the woods near my house on moonlit nights without any problems. The Moon isn’t a light source, just a source of reflection for sunlight. With a fairly generous tree canopy, the light reflected back from your tree lights may even be sufficient to modestly light up the space under the canopy. While probably insufficient to read by (the height of your tree canopy will determine a lot about the intensity of light reaching the ground) it may be sufficient to serve as comfortable mood lighting. That can represent some cost savings to you as you may need less lighting for the space.

Whichever option you choose outdoor tree lights can provide some spectacular results and should, if nothing else, factor into consideration as you plan your landscape lighting layout. You may opt against lighting your trees because of the maintenance complications or because the effect doesn’t fit into your plans, but to forgo consideration entirely would be an oversight. A tastefully lit tree of appropriate specimen is simply a beautiful addition to a garden.

While you may be able to accomplish your goals with a landscape lighting kit, they are neither a fool proof nor perfect solution for all people and all settings. The do-it-yourself approach comes with problems of its own and kits have their limitations. Today’s post will hopefully help guide you through your decision so you can draw an informed conclusion about whether or not a kit is the best option for you.

Clearly the greatest advantage of using a landscape lighting kit is realized in terms of cost savings. Kits can hit some remarkably low prices. One example is a 14 piece light set made by Malibu and available on Amazon for a paltry $52! At those prices you’d almost think yourself foolish NOT to buy it. But before you make the leap, read on.

The cost benefits of kits exist for two reasons. The first is that you do all the work. Rather than having a landscaping professional charge you a sometimes painful amount for the work, you need very minimal skill in electrical work and tool use to get these things in the ground. That said, you will still be investing several hours of your time to get things done. That’s fine if you’re pulling in a middle class income or less, but a well paid lawyer or consultant might actually save more having a pro do the work.

The second (and more important) reason an outdoor lighting kit might cost so little sometimes results in a big disappointment for the consumer. To keep costs down, those super inexpensive lighting kits are made of plastic. That in itself isn’t so bad, but plastic doesn’t respond well to high temperatures. That means the bulbs in those plastic lights have to be relatively low watt bulbs in the range of 20 Watts (for spotlights) or 10 to 15 Watt (for accent lights).

Are low wattage bulbs really such a bad thing? Well, that depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If your goal is to define a border, like along a path, for safety then a low watt light kit is perfectly acceptable. The pools of light cast by these bulbs will be fairly anemic, though, providing less in terms of illumination than you might hope. Essentially, the light itself becomes a beacon of demarcation rather than the fairly inadequate pool of light it will cast.

The 20 Watt spotlights might be fine for illuminating relatively small specimen plants and, used correctly with the background in fairly close proximity, may even allow you to pull of some shadowing effects. Likewise, you can probably uplight smaller tree trunks though you may need to double up on the spotlights to do so. You’ll certainly be hard pressed to effectively uplight the branches of larger trees. Incidentally, we’ll speak a bit more about outdoor tree lights in our next post.

An additional down side is that you’re very limited in style with a kit. You’ll receive a set of one or two different kinds of lights. Generally you’ll get a standard set of post lights for borders and/or a few spotlights. Should you subsequently deem a spot to be better served by recessed lighting or prefer another style entirely, you’re back to square one. There isn’t a lot in the way of creative freedom.

Sounds a little grim so far, but stick with me. My intent here isn’t to turn you off to the idea of inexpensive landscape lighting kits, but to manage your expectations a little. There are certainly upsides to these kits such as, as already mentioned, affordability. I’m even willing to give credit for their plastic construction. Wait, didn’t I just condemn these lights for their plastic construction? Well, yes, because of the low wattage element. But there is a plus.

Plastic landscaping lights may be cheap to construct, but they’re surprisingly tough and durable. In addition, the designs are all but indistinguishable from metal models at night without very close inspection. Another great point is that landscaping lights are subject to all kinds of abuse from people tripping on them to damage from lawnmowers and weathering. Replacing a single metal light can be an expensive proposition. Replacing a single plastic light is a whole other matter and very cost effective.

Ease of installation is another feature you just can’t beat with landscape lighting kits. A few simple tools, a bare-minimum understanding of electrical work and you’re pretty much good to go. Do your research ahead of time, though, to ensure you have everything you need to get the job done.

A final perk with lighting kits is that they allow you entry into what would otherwise be a fairly expensive hobby. For a fairly low cost, you can experiment with placement and approaches to find what you like best and scale up from there.

There are some other issues we could discuss (both in favor and against) but the key is simply this. Know what you’re getting and what your limitations will be. For some of you, inexpensive garden lighting kits will be the perfect fit. Others, with grander ambitions or property to light will be better served by a professional solution or by piecing together their own set of lights that fit their specific needs.

One particular drawback to this type of landscape lighting is that landscape lighting kits are likely not going to include the lights, fasteners or louvers you will need to pull this style of lighting off. Most kits available in your hardware store offer collections of post-mounted lights only. I’ve found a tree mounting kit online but be aware that this kit only includes mounting harnesses, not lights.

To properly moon light an area requires an appropriate tree. Meandering branches, full leaves and interesting bark all lend themselves well to this approach. If your tree isn’t worth showing off or won’t create interesting shadows when lit from above and within, it really isn’t worth going through the effort this effect requires.

This approach requires getting up into your tree to place downward facing lights in the branches. That should immediately bring two things to mind, viewing perspective and maintenance. Let’s address viewing perspective first.

Consider where visitors will view your moonlit tree for best impact. With that spot in mind, picture three locations. Location 1 is the tree trunk. Location 2 is a point in the branches between the viewer and the tree trunk. Location 3 is the viewer’s position. Place your lighting in your tree branches so as best to angle the light away from the viewing position (see illustration).

Speaking of viewing angles, try not to place your lamps at more than a 25 to 30 degree angle from vertical. Over-angling your lighting could make what’s beautiful from within your garden a real nuisance to your neighbors.

That said, if you want to create a pool of shadows encompassing a broad area of the ground or if you have a bench directly beneath the tree, visible light sources may be unavoidable. To best minimize glare, you have two solutions you can employ. Use louvers to help angle light away from primary viewing spots and go for fairly low luminescence. The louvers are simply the equivalent of blinds for landscape lighting which angle the direction of light or block the source from view.

Bulb strengths and types as applied to landscape lighting of any kind is an extensive topic better held for an entire post of its own but, for moon lighting, recognize that you want to go fairly low strength. For small trees with low placed lights, you may end up going as low as 20-watt up to about 50-watt for large trees. Factors which will dictate the appropriate wattage are the height of light placement and density of foliage.

I mentioned maintenance as an important factor because, unlike other landscape lighting applications, moon lighting will require more effort to maintain. After all, your yearly maintenance will require you getting back up into that tree to adjust angels, fasteners, change bulbs or reaffix cabling. As your tree grows or spreads new branches, light positions that worked before may need to be adjusted. All in all, I think the effect is worth the effort, but if you are elderly or suffer from any physical challenges, this is one application in which you may want to give serious consideration to hiring professionals or friends to assist you.

One final item worth noting is the common mistake of failing to light the trunk of the tree that is moon lit. This oversight leaves the branches and leaves appearing to float unattached in the air as what is lit becomes visible and what isn’t, well, isn’t. While that may seem to carry some interesting appeal, the result doesn’t translate well in reality. The brain expects branches and leaves to be anchored by a tree trunk. With that in mind, remember that a good moon lighting application should, in most cases, include and up-lit tree trunk.

The dappled shadows of a moon lit tree falling on a path or seating area are beautiful. If you have the right tree in which to apply this technique and are willing to go through the effort, I highly recommend this as a wonderful landscape lighting application. Just be sure to be safe and recognize that professional help may be needed for this one.