Moonlighting is your best option. This involves adding a few fixtures high in the canopy of the trees, then aiming them downward through the branches.
People love yards full of grown trees. But the trouble of mature tree canopies is that they feel like a dark wall after sunset. The good news is that mature trees are one of the easiest elements of a landscape to artfully light.
One of the wonderful things about outdoor lighting for canopied yards is the potential for moonlighting. This involves placing fixtures high in trees and shining the light down. Doing this makes it so light filters down through leaf and limb, falling into soft pools with patterns that shift in the breeze. There’s nothing quite like it.
With moonlighting, the higher the lights are mounted, the more natural the light spread feels. This is why it so often works best where the trees run tall and the canopies are complete. The fixtures, of course, are placed out of sight and out of mind, so you can see the light, but not the thing making the light.
As important as light is, shadow is equally so. It’s tempting to add more and more lights, but that can actually flatten a yard and make it feel like a stadium. Better: choose two or three specimen trees for lighting, and light them and them alone. The light then falls where it needs to fall, and the rest fades into shadow. The interplay between light and shadow is what makes it work, because it lets wooded yards keep that little bit of mystery that makes them charming.
Path lighting can then be added at a low level to make pathways safe and easy to find. It works beautifully alongside moonlighting when seen within the broader context of the full yard.
Reading a canopy and deciding which trees to light, where to mount, and what to leave dark takes an eye for the whole picture. If you’d like to talk to an expert about how to do this well, you can always schedule a free consultation with Outdoor Lighting Perspectives. A COLT-certified technician will come by after dark with temporary fixtures and give you a real-life demonstration of what’s possible on your property.