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Bring a touch of RHS Glow to your garden

Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Diwali or the winter solstice, or simply love to bring a little light to your gardens and community spaces on dark evenings, Alex Keighley, RHS Glow lighting designer, gives us his top tips on creating the perfect display 

British winter nights are long, and although this can be seen as time to rest, recuperate and snuggle up indoors, being able to enjoy our gardens and move through them safely often requires some lighting. The designers of the RHS Glow light installations at the RHS Gardens for the last two years, SLX, a B Corp production and technical solution provider, share their top tips on what, where and how to get the look. 

  • Try to use outdoor lighting for short periods only, to reduce the impact on local wildlife

Tips for creating your own light installation

Light up special features in your garden
Festive balls of fire

Join two hanging baskets together using floristry wire or garden

twine and wrap with outdoor battery-powered fairy lights or micro-wire lights. Weave into the frame or use more twine or wire to attach greenery like holly and ivy or willow and other flexible dry material around the ball, leaving spaces for the lights to shine through. Either hang them using a chain or strong wire, or place on shepherd’s crooks to line a path.

Willow and wire balls can be filled with lights and decorated with greenery
Create living galleries

Bring the art gallery outdoors. Build a light frame, where people can take selfies or group pictures. This would work really well for a community setting amongst evergreens. Attach outside lights around a simple box or wire frame and add greenery for that finishing touch. 

Light up a frame to bring some fun to your community event
Frame a view

What may seem dull by day can look stunning at night. Lighting enhances textures and shapes, so choose interesting plant shapes or garden features such as pots, pergolas and other structures or specimen trees and play with lighting colours to find what works best to make it stand out. Make lead-lines that draw your eye into the garden space using path lights.

Colourful and playful framing at RHS Bridgewater
Shades of light

Try to use warm white rather than cold white, everything just looks better and creates more of a homely glow. Amber also works really well. Play with either harmonising colours, that sit next to each other on the colour wheel such as red and gold or contrasting colours like gold and blue for a vibrant look. Leaf colours respond differently to each other with light – an oak tree, for example, responds well to green and blue, magenta and amber, whereas if you shine red light on an evergreen leaf, it just tends to look black. 

Pick your favourite colours and play with colour combinations
Fairy jars

Fill Kilner jars or other clear containers with fairy lights, such a simple but pretty idea that works well as path lights, on either side of a door, hung on a balcony or to line a flight of steps, making it perfect for every size of space.

Fill glass jars with twinkling lights for a little fairy magic
Stunning silhouettes

Deciduous trees and shrubs have beautiful skeletal structures, which can be enhanced using lighting, to really bring out the form. Play with the shadows that are created by keeping the lights closer to the trunk to enhance the structural form of the tree. Evergreens, however, take shades of green, cyan and pure white light really well. Position the light further away from the tree to catch the full height of the tree.

Play with light colours and distances for the best effect
“Look out for some surprises at the RHS Gardens this year. At RHS Rosemoor the trail will pass under the road into the upper garden for the first time, RHS Wisley has a new watery wonder, and at a few gardens we are creating a new exciting interactive installation with giant petunias, which change colour and sounds when you touch them. It’s all about creating a journey of discovery,” says Alex Keighley, Lighting Designer for RHS Glow at SLX.

Come and see how it’s done at RHS Glow

See for yourself how the experts create magic at RHS Glow this winter. Dates vary at each of the five RHS Gardens, from 15 November to 5 January. Grab a mulled wine, bring your friends and family and enjoy the BEST night out of the season.

Book tickets now >
Come and see how it’s done at RHS Glow

Festive shopping at RHS Plants

Shop for indoor and outdoor lighting, festive plants and gifts at RHS Plants. Sign up for regular updates and offers.

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Festive shopping at RHS Plants

Sustainability note from SLX

The creative brief emphasised the importance of sustainability and the desire to spotlight gardens as the true stars of the event. LED lighting was prioritised to reduce power consumption while minimising subcontracting ensured operational efficiency. Through collaboration with arborists and ecologists and careful consideration of plant health, we ensured that the project not only delivers visually stunning displays but also respects and preserves the natural environment. Taking this one step further, our conscientious approach to waste management, including recycling of minimal plastic waste and using biodegradable alternatives, underscores our commitment as a B Corp to sustainability from all corners of the production.

SLX >
Sustainability note from SLX
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