[Baz]

Originally Posted by daepp

So much good information - thank you thank you thank you.

First, re the tortoises, they are natural diggers. They will go down 2 feet at the warmest times of the year. They are also very persistent and can move very heavy objects with time, so even below grade conduit is unworkable.

There is only a little bit of the house/eave close enough, so I could only get one edge of the space, but I have to admit I hadn't thought of lighting from an angle like that. I am going to give that a lot of thought for another location - it might look really cool.

That par 30 well light - Baz, if I understood you correctly you liked that as it cast the widest beam - is that right? I can't put it in the ground, but were you thinking of it raised off the ground?

Using the blocks - the cinder blocks up the middle are just a temporary separator when the male won't leave the female alone - I'm guessing he missed the Sex Over 50 Thread.

The brick capped walls are often walked on by visiting children, so I'm not sure that will work, plus I somehow thought you wanted to hide the light source, no?

Much like Jeff suggested, I ran 12 gauge wire across the back of all the trees at about 24" off the ground. At each tree I made a loop about 12 " down behind the tree and back up, and then on to the next tree. That way I can pick which tree to light.

I think my biggest challenges at this point are that I have purchased what may well be crap fixtures (but they can be returned so I will research those online sources above), and whether strapping uplights (or something like the par 30 well fixture?) to the bottom of a tree will be too close to it to look good?

Again - thank you very much.

David - the Well Light is designed to be embedded into the ground so only the top of the housing is almost flush with the grade. Then you can drop the bulb down into the housing deep enough to block it from shinning in anyone's face but also angled toward the target to be lit up. (the bulb sits in a chassis that slides up and down inside the housing).

That said it doesn't sound like this type of light fixture is what you want.

If you are mounting above the ground then a directional light with an MR 16 bulb might work. You can get brackets to mount them with instead of the traditional stakes. (1/2 FPT)

Like this:
Tree Deck Mounting Bracket in Rust Finish for Landscape Lights | eBay



The other thought I had was going to a solar light that does not use any cable. But solar lights are not as nice as low voltage. IMO so there's a trade off off in illumination quality. I never use solar myself, BTW.