These Chatsworth solar birdbath fountains are a popular product listing on eBay this summer. They're made of resin and available in at least two varieties, 'oiled bronze' and 'weathered stone'. The resin manufacture makes them physically light enough to rest on a deck or be moved around for to suit a temporary need.
[Chatsworth Solar Birdbath - eBay]
There's a ton of solar Halloween decorations available this year. From headstones to gargoyles and jack-o-lanterns, it's easy to power night time creepiness with day time sunlight.
Why clutter your yard with cables and wires when you can simply stick a decorative element where you want it and then rely on it to light up automatically as the sun goes down? Tektrum and Malibu are leading the way with these seasonal solar novelties. Most of this stuff wasn't even available last year, so you'll be the first on your block to embrace the new "Green Halloween" trend.
My favorites are after the jump, or you can click here to see a comprehensive list of solar Halloween decorations. Read the rest of this entry »
Leaving your Christmas lights up all year long just got classy! Twinkling solar string lights can be woven into bushes or wrapped around tree branches to create a magical effect in your yard, all year round.
String lights use a single solar panel - usually included with the lights but check the item description - that must be placed in an exposed area. Depending on the exposure and charge acquired through the panel, the LEDs may stay lit all night or just for 5 or 6 hours.
While advances in LED technology have made string lights brighter in recent years, you would need a large number of strings to illuminate your yard. Think of them more as a decorative touch for the evenings. However, if there's a dark spot or niche in your yard that doesn't need bright lights but could use a dollop of illumination, solar string lights might be a good choice.
Either way, they're pretty and you don't need to pay money to power them.
When it comes to solar path lighting, there are basically three varieties - stick-in-the-ground, mounted and string lights. The mounted type can be bolted on to a wall or the side of a house, or attached as post caps. String lights have become an increasingly popular solution, because of the convenience of winding them through bushes or tree limbs and their extreme portability. However, most solar path lights sold in the U.S. are still on posts stuck in the ground.
As path lighting, ground-level lights are most effective. You should avoid placing lights near eye level - it's best to illuminate the ground without casting light upward where it will interfere with visitors' night vision.
Solar lights are usually pretty sturdy, but they often take a lot of abuse from careless walkers and powered lawn tools. Stainless steel and copper frames have become more popular in the least year or two, but these can be more expensive to replace when they are damaged, and they are not particularly sturdier than synthetic materials used in most lighting. So yes, there's something magical about a verdigris encrusted solar light, but be prepared to shell out significantly more cash when a careless gardener drops a 75-pound bag of cedar chips on top of the light.
Caution goes double for very pretty, delicate-looking ground level lights. Make sure to put these in places where they're unlikely to get crushed. And of course, always look for areas where the lights will get lots of sun during the day so they work best at night.
The "SolMate Solar Mole Repeller" by P3 International is my favorite new solar gadget for the yard. It actually drives moles and other burrowing mammals and rodents out of your yard, to a radius of almost 50 feet.
If you're like me, you've been at war with moles and gophers for years and are probably disappointed that the Solar Mole Repeller merely chases them off, rather than releasing tiny solar robots that hunt down and kill the damn things. While the humane process employed by the device may be considered an overly sentimental bug by some of our angrier readers, it's actually an important feature: to pets and kids, the device is perfectly harmless. No poisons or pesticides are involved. Instead, the solar device emits low-frequency pulses through the ground that annoy mammals living down there. After one or two weeks they leave the area. You can place the device wherever sunlight is abundant enough to power its solar cell.
Also, the Solar Mole Repeller is sturdy and unobtrusive - it won't stick out in the garden and you're unlikely to damage it with anything short of a direct strike from a lawnmower blade.
Friendly to the environment and only a little bit mean to moles, voles and gophers, check out the Solar Mole Repeller at Buy.com.
