Spike Lights

Where spike lights earn their place in the garden

A spike light is the simplest way to add light to planting without digging in a permanent fixture. The spike pushes straight into soft soil, lawn or a bed, and the head sits just above the surface or on a pole, ready to point at whatever you want to pick out. Because nothing is bolted down, you can lift a fitting and move it as a border fills out or a tree grows, which makes spikes a good first step before you commit to recessed ground lights or wall-mounted spotlights.

Our range is built around accent lighting rather than broad floodlighting. Most fittings are single-light designs in a small size band, so they layer pools of light through a garden instead of washing it flat. That suits the jobs spikes do best: grazing a textured wall, lifting a specimen shrub, or marking the edge of a bed so a path reads clearly at night.

Positioning spikes: beds, borders and trees

How you angle a spike does most of the work. For planting beds and borders, set the fitting low and slightly behind the plants so the beam rakes across leaves and flowers, which shows off texture and keeps the bulb out of direct sightlines. For a tree, push the spike into the ground a short distance from the trunk and tilt the head upwards to graze the bark and lift the canopy; two or three fittings spaced around a mature tree give a fuller effect than a single beam.

Taller pole versions, which we stock in 80cm, 120cm and 160cm heights, raise the light source above low planting so it can reach over a border or cast a wider pool on a lawn. Shorter ground spikes and the compact designs around 30cm to 37cm sit down among the plants for close, directional accenting. Mixing heights across a scheme stops the garden looking evenly lit and gives it depth.

• Aim beams away from windows and seating to avoid glare across a patio.
• Keep cable runs neat and tucked under mulch or along bed edges so spikes can still be repositioned.
• Leave a little slack in the cable so a fitting can be nudged as planting matures.

GU10 swaps and integrated LED

Spike lights here come in two broad types. GU10 models take a standard twist-and-lock GU10 lamp, so when the light fails you swap the bulb rather than the whole fitting, and you can change the colour temperature or beam by choosing a different lamp. Integrated LED designs have the light source built in, which keeps the head compact and sealed; many of these are rated around 1W to 30W and run at a warm 3000K white that suits planting and brickwork. Several fittings in this range are dimmable, which lets you settle a scheme to a comfortable level once it is in.

If you are matching a garden scheme, our spike lights run across grey, graphite, white, black and matt black finishes, with brushed brass and stainless steel among them. Bodies are typically metal or aluminium, with some polycarbonate designs, and glass features in many of them. Graphite and grey tend to recede into planting in daylight, while stainless steel and brushed brass read as more of a feature.

IP ratings and outdoor use

Everything in this range is outdoor-rated. Most fittings carry an IP65 rating, which means they are built to cope with dust and water jets, the kind of exposure a spike light sees sitting in an open bed through British weather. Because spikes sit at or near ground level where they can be splashed by rain and irrigation, that sealing matters more than it would for a fitting tucked under an eave. Any outdoor wiring should be carried out by a qualified electrician and connected through a suitable weatherproof outdoor supply.

Spikes alongside other garden lighting

Spike lights work as one layer in a larger scheme. They handle the accents, while pathway and bollard designs edge routes and recessed ground fittings sit flush in hard landscaping. Starting with spikes lets you test where light is wanted before any of that is fixed in place, then build the rest of the scheme around the positions that work.