Above: A daytime view of bullet lights installed at the base of a manicured installment of trees in a project by Coen + Partners. Photograph by Paul Crosby. Snake Plant (Sansevieria): Known for its upright, sword-like leaves, it’s one of the easiest plants to care for and can tolerate various light conditions. Types of plants: Whether you're growing plants indoors or outdoors, not all plants can be treated equally. Some need more intense light, some need less light, some need different colors, etc. Before purchasing lights, you should research the plant you want to buy to make sure you can properly care for it before you take it home with you. For additional information, browse our gardening section to learn how to handle different types of plants. Vegetative houseplants like pothos and monsteras benefit from artificial grow light with both red and blue wavelengths. Place the light one to five feet away from the plant, depending on the plant’s specific light needs. Keep the light on for six to twelve hours each day. Many varieties of lights can illuminate in an upward direction. The most common types used in gardens include:

This bulb from GE is ideal if you're trying to grow plants that flower or bear fruit. GE says this is a full-spectrum light, but its tint is more reddish than white, which would be better for budding and flowering plants. Because the bulb is an LED floodlight, it won't generate much heat, and the light will last longer than a traditional bulb. You'll also save a decent amount of money using this LED light versus a non-LED light. According to GE, this light has an output photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) of 15 micromoles per second, which is essentially the number of light particles the bulb is producing that actively help with photosynthesis. The higher the PPF, the better it is for the plant. Light quality refers to the wavelength or color of light. The light spectrum is composed of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet light. Sunlight provides all colors of light. Above: Uplights highlight drifts of perennial grasses and balance the lighting on the front porch in a project in Hollywood, by LA-based Walker Workshop, a member of our architects and designers directory. Why use uplighting in my landscape?Even if you’re using a powerful light, placing it too far away from a plant will lead to weak plants. Not having a light on for enough hours will also lead to problems. While many plants can be grown with artificial light, some perform better than others. The following houseplants typically thrive when grown with artificial light: There's a timer function, so you can choose to turn it on or off for four hours, eight hours or 12 hours. You can also dim the lights if you don't want them quite as bright. Since they're LED lights, you don't need to worry about excessive heat, so they can be decently close to your plants. Plus, they have excellent energy efficiency. There are 70 red LEDs and 10 white LEDs: The idea is to simulate sunlight at noon, when it's at its brightest and provides the most light. Since most of the lights are red, they're great for budding and flowering.

LEDs are most often recommended for grow lights, though some fluorescent and incandescent bulbs can work. The most important thing is that regardless of type, the bulbs should offer full-spectrum illumination and produce waves of red and blue light, which is often necessary for plants to thrive indoors. Pothos (Epipremnum aureum): A trailing plant with heart-shaped leaves, pothos is adaptable to various lighting conditions. Wow. When you take a look at the Latin name for this plant, you understand why everyone just calls it the ZZ Plant! Credit: “File:Zamioculcas zamiifolia 6zz.jpg” by Photo by David J. Stang is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 LED lights, such as the GE BR30 Grow LED Light or Aceple Desk Plant Grow Light, are one of the most popular, as well as the most efficient options. They also offer ideal light spectrum ranges. LEDs emit less heat than incandescent bulbs and can last up to 30 times longer. “LED lights are my preferred go-to for lights, because they’re energy-efficient and generate little to no heat,” Johnson says. Plants will absorb both red and blue light throughout their lives, and a balance of both types produces healthy plants. That said, the light types can affect the plant’s processes.

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Low-light plants require little to no direct light. In their native growing environments, these plants are “understory plants” meaning they grow underneath the branches of larger plants.

Above: Uplights with a low diffuse wash add visual interest to the artful walls and provide practical pathway illumination in a Los Altos Hills, California project by Arterra Landscape Architects, a member of our architects and designers directory. Wash light is a good choice for subtle illumination of lower plants, shrubs, and wall surfaces. Photograph by Michele Lee Willson Photography. If plants don’t receive enough light, they will become stunted and experience an overall decline in health. If you’ve ever placed a plant in a dark room, you know what we’re discussing. Of course, any houseplant is going to require at least some natural light, or supplementary artificial lighting. But choosing plants that naturally grow in low light conditions, such as tropical forests, will mean that they thrive where other sun-loving houseplants would be likely to fail. Ezorkas's LED tri-head grow light has 120 LEDs: 80 red and 40 blue. This is the optimum color range to promote successful plant growth, as both of those hues are perfect for optimizing photosynthesis and survivability. The colors can be used either at the same time or individually, depending on the stage of the plant. To power it, a USB plug is included, as is an AC adapter.Keeping sufficient distance between plants and a light source is especially important when using bulbs that produce a lot of heat, like incandescent and high-pressure sodium. But even with LED and fluorescent lights, maintaining a proper distance helps to ensure healthy plant growth. As we’ve mentioned above, the distance between your artificial light and your plant depends on the light’s intensity and light needs. Struggling to find a houseplant that will survive in that shady corner? Finding plants that will tolerate those low light conditions isn’t as hard as you might think. Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata): It prefers bright, indirect light but can adapt to artificial lighting conditions if given enough moisture. Some LED lights are even able to turn certain diodes on and off. That means you can start with blue light during vegetative growth and then phase in more red light as your plant begins to flower. Pros:

Maranta are tropical foliage plants, admired for the attractive markings on their leaves which have the intriguing habit of curling up at night and then unfurling again in the morning. Credit: “Maranta leuconeura Fascinator” by blumenbiene is licensed under CC BY 2.0 The part of the light spectrum that plants use is called Photosynthetically Active Radiation, which is composed of primarily red and blue light. The secrets to successful Begonia cultivation are avoid over-watering, keep the crown and foliage dry, and improve humidity by placing the pots above a tray filled with damp gravel. Since these Begonias are grown for their foliage and not their blooms, they tolerate lower light levels than other Begonias and they also perform very well under artificial lighting. Spider Plant – Chlorophytum comosum Seedlings require large amounts of blue light to promote vegetative growth. The light should be just a few inches above the plants to discourage plants from stretchy to reach the light. Aim for twelve to fourteen hours of light each day.As lighting technologies have become more efficient, grow lights that only emit light from the red and blue wavelengths of the light spectrum have become more common. Most plants use light from the sun to grow. We call that white light, but technically, white is the combination of every single color we can and cannot see. What you see in everyday life is the reflection of said light bouncing off an object.