designing with light in the garden
light is one of those things i’m always paying attention to when i’m designing a landscape. where does the morning light come through? which parts of the yard are bright and warm in the afternoon? where does the sun filter through the branches of an old tree? and where does everything get a little quieter and softer toward the end of the day?
we usually think about sunlight in landscape design in terms of plants—full sun, part shade, full shade—and of course that matters. putting the right plant in the right amount of light is a pretty important part of creating a garden that will actually thrive. but light does so much more than that.
light changes the entire feeling of an outdoor space. a patio that gets gentle morning sun might be the perfect place for a cup of coffee, while a little seating area beneath a canopy of mature trees can feel like heaven on a hot july afternoon. late-day sunlight coming through ornamental grasses can make them glow. dappled light across an irregular bluestone walkway shows off every little variation in the stone. even shadows are important. they add depth and movement and keep a landscape from feeling flat.
i think this is one of the reasons i’m so drawn to natural materials in landscape design and construction. natural stone, wood, weathered brick, gravel, grasses and layered plantings all respond to light differently throughout the day. a stone wall can look completely different at eight in the morning than it does at six in the evening. the same is true of a garden. it’s constantly changing.
when we’re designing landscapes in naperville, aurora, plainfield, yorkville, batavia, geneva, glen ellyn, wheaton, downers grove, lisle and throughout the western suburbs of chicago, the existing light is always part of the design—even if it isn’t something you see drawn on the landscape plan. mature trees, the direction the house faces, neighboring homes and even the time of year all affect how light moves through a property.
and sometimes good landscape design is less about adding more and more things and more about noticing what’s already there. maybe there’s a beautiful pocket of afternoon light beneath an old tree that deserves a bench. maybe the evening sun hits one corner of the yard in a way that makes it the obvious place for a small natural stone patio. or maybe a shady side yard could become something lush and quiet instead of being treated as a problem to solve.
every property has its own light. i think part of designing a garden well is learning to notice it, work with it and leave enough room for a little bit of that everyday magic to happen on its own.