Garden lighting in Australia mostly comes down to two things: a stake light every two metres, or a string of bulbs hung overhead. Both leave the beds themselves dark. These sit down among the planting instead — twenty small mushroom caps on 19 cm stakes, pushed into the soil between the shrubs, so what lights up at dusk is the garden rather than the path beside it. One solar panel runs the whole run.

Why It Stands Out

• One panel, the whole string — ten or twenty lights off a single solar panel, so there is one spot to find sun and one switch to press, not ten.
• They sit in the planting, not above it — at 19 cm the caps clear low groundcover and glow up through the leaves, which is what these mushroom lights do that an overhead string cannot.
• Each one is independently staked — every cap has its own spike, so you can bend the run around a curve, up a slope, or in a loose drift rather than a straight line.
• 8 to 12 hours a night — from a six hour charge, which means they are still on when you come home late.
• Two lengths — 3.5 m with 10 lights at 15 cm apart for a tight cluster, or 8 m with 20 lights at 30 cm for a long run.
• Two metres of lead — enough cable between the panel and the first light to put the panel in full sun while the lights sit in the shade of a shrub.
• Steady or flash — a button on the panel, so they can be quiet lighting most nights and something else at a party.

Where to Put Them

• Through a garden bed — the job they are built for. Pushed in between the plants so the light comes from inside the planting rather than pointing at it.
• Along the edge of a lawn — a drift of them where grass meets garden, which is where solar lawn lights earn their keep without needing a hard edge.
• Beside a path or stepping stones — set back 20 cm into the mulch rather than on the paving, where they stay clear of feet and the mower.
• Under a tree or a large shrub — clustered in the mulch, where the 3.5 m version with its tighter spacing looks best.
• Around a pond or a water feature — low light at the water's edge, picking up on the surface.
• Down a slope or a rockery — individual spikes mean each one goes in at its own angle and still stands upright.
• Along a fence line or the back of a bed — as outdoor string lights go, these draw the eye to the depth of the garden instead of its boundary.

How It Works

1. The panel charges the battery all day — a 0.6 W panel feeding a 600 mAh Ni-MH cell, which takes about six hours of good sun to fill.
2. A light sensor in the panel watches for dusk — as the daylight falls away it switches the string on without any input from you.
3. The LEDs run off the stored charge — 8 to 12 hours from a full battery, so a long sunny day buys a long evening.
4. Sunrise shuts it off and charging starts again.

How to Set Them Up

1. Peel the film off the panel — there is a clear protective layer over the solar cell and it will not charge properly until it comes off. This is the step everyone misses.
2. Assemble the panel stake — the spike pushes into the connecting rod, and the rod clips into the slot on the back of the panel.
3. Fit each cap to its spike — push the spike into the base of the mushroom, then hook the wire into the clips on either side so the cable sits neatly.
4. Put the panel in sun first, then run the string out — the panel decides everything, so place it where it gets real midday light and work backwards from there.
5. Press the power button and charge for a full day before you judge them.
Tip: do not space them evenly in a straight line. Push a few closer together and leave gaps between the clusters, the way mushrooms actually come up. A perfectly regular row reads as a product; an uneven drift reads as something growing there.

Care and Maintenance

• Wipe the panel every few weeks. Dust, pollen and sprinkler lime cut the charge long before you notice the lights running short. A damp cloth is the whole job.
• Keep the growth off it. A shrub that has put on 30 cm since spring will shade a panel that used to be clear.
• Lift them before the mower comes through. Pulling a spike and putting it back takes seconds and saves a cracked cap.
• Switch them off if they go into storage. Left on in a dark shed, the cell runs flat and stays flat, which is harder on a battery than nightly use.

Specifications

What's Included

• 1 × LED mushroom string light
• 1 × Solar panel with ground stake
• Individual spikes, one per mushroom