Beautiful tree, yes I would try to uplight it, unsure what you would like to light on the right?

Is that stone in that location? Difficult to tell what’s there. Beautiful house btw.

I think the most important thing you can do to upgrade is to widen the concrete path to the house. It's too narrow for the "status" of the house, and you might find a more upscale material as well. Big project I know.

Yes to uplight the tree, plus "mushroom" lights along the front walk. You could effectively widen it with a strip of rock or gravel on each side of the concrete.

A light under the rock to add glow as they have done with the fern here:

Well, I am the outlier. We keep our yard as dark as possible through the night. Of course our neighbors all keep lots of lights on and some do light their trees. I use dark skies friendly light if I do turn on an outside briefly. If we have guests, I will turn on the front light when they leave. Better for birds, plants, and insects-we have lost so many insects and birds worldwide and here in the US (who rely on them for food and to feed their young) . It is especially important to avoid lights during migration times and when they have babies to feed. For instance, chickadees need more than 5000 insects (especially caterpillars) to feed a clutch of young. National Wildlife Foundation . :-)

BTW, your house is lovely.

There's no reason to uplight anything and it REALLY messes with migration patterns. Do a little research on "dark sky compliant lighting" and use down-lights as much as possible.

I'm not convinced the words 'subtle' and 'uplighting' work in the same sentence. To my mind, uplighting is simply screaming 'look at meeeee!'. It's a fixture of banquet halls and funeral homes.

There are so many improvements in landscape lighting, many are “dark sky” compliant. I have some of my landscaping up lighted, low voltage & what I consider to be subtle , more akin to a “wash”, not obtrusive ….. guess not everyone is aware of what’s available now.

Well, we have up lights into 3 trees (2 in an island in the front yard, one nearer to the house), as well as very similar "mushroom lights" along the front walkway and the far side of the driveway. Only thing I would say is please don't do what I call "runway lighting" - all the path lights in a straight line. Ours are staggered on each side of the path.

And judging from the variety of birds and wildlife that go merrily through our yard I don't think the lights have affected anything. They are on timers so on a sundown and off at 1115 pm. All low voltage.

Thank you all. Lots to think about here. Definitely don’t want to deter birds/wildlife! Especially the glorious owls we hear at night.

@Kate Bowers … lol, so true, I almost wish it would deter the crows which have been tearing up our yard, looks like golf course divots, and the seagulls that leave messes ( house @ beach ). We also get lots of hummingbirds which we love, they prefer our Bird of Paradise flowers to the feeders I fill for them.

….. guess not everyone is aware of what’s available now.

Oh gosh, was that a snide retort to those of us who have suggested following the Dark Skies Initiative and turning off lights? I suspect we are well aware of what is available now. That is what we do-follow the science.

@cyn give it a rest.

We were watching a show based in Key West and all the houses used red outdoor lighting to not distract the sea turtles.

AI overview suggests amber or orange low wattage lighting for wildlife and no uplighting so you could highlight a tree mounting the fixture up in it and facing downward.

Amber or reddish/orange down lighting would be warm and subtle yet still effective.

There is no up-lighting that is dark-sky compliant, even as a "wash." Visit www.darksky.org and specifically https://darksky.org/resources/guides-and-how-tos/lighting-principles/ 

I may scrap this entire idea.

The last commentor bpmba did not study my latest renderings that show no uplighting, which had already been established in this thread.

I'm sorry if the OP is feeling discourged now.

Yes, unfortunate, due to the naysayers on this site. Having lived in Flagstaff AZ for several years I’m well aware of dark sky principles but I hesitate to post a photo of my current lighting ( yes, amber & low voltage ) considering :)

There are plenty of small solar light styles that can be planted anywhere for ambience and path lighting.