A well-designed garden should not stop being used at sunset.
Yet for many homeowners, that is exactly what happens. The garden looks beautiful through the day, but the moment the light fades, it becomes an afterthought – somewhere to glance at through the window rather than a space to actually be in. The right garden lighting changes that entirely, extending the life of your outdoor space deep into a summer evening and giving every considered design decision a second act.
At Ian Barker Gardens, we collaborate with Gardens at Night, an Australian-owned company specialising in quality, energy-efficient outdoor lighting, to ensure every garden we design performs just as beautifully after dusk as it does by day. Lighting, in our view, is not a finishing touch – it is a fundamental layer of the design itself.
Here are three fixtures we return to again and again.
Accent 5
The Accent 5 is our go-to uplighter, and for good reason. When positioned correctly, it draws the eye upward toward the garden’s most compelling moments – a significant tree, a clipped hedge running along a boundary fence, or a carefully chosen sculpture. Where there is something worth celebrating in a garden, the Accent 5 is usually what we use to focus on it.
Image courtesy of Gardens at Night
Pole lights
When it comes to lighting a path, we typically work with either a single- or twin-pole light configuration, depending on the path’s length and width. Whether it’s a bluestone entry path welcoming guests to the front door or a garden walkway connecting entertaining zones, pole lights handle both the practical and the atmospheric with quiet elegance.
Hanging lights
Hanging lights appear less frequently in our projects, but where a pergola is part of the design, they become indispensable. Suspended overhead, they deliver a warm downlight into the spaces most likely to be occupied after dark – dining areas, outdoor kitchens, lounge settings – turning a structural garden element into an inviting room without walls.
Lighting a garden well is about more than visibility. It is about making a space feel considered, generous, and worth returning to at every hour of the day.
Interested to see how garden lighting can transform your garden? Discover our Hawthorn East Escape.
