Add Interest to Your Garden With Hanging Solar Lanterns

The front looks a little sad and lonely, doesn’t it? We have since removed those palms trees and replaced them with Christmas Palms. I have added a few (ok more than a few!) patio pots to the landscape. Last fall, I was pondering how to make the front of the house “pop”, especially at night. While not nearly as dark as it was when we lived in the country, this part of the street didn’t have a lot of light at night.

Since we already had coach style hardwired lanterns on either side of the garage door, I thought I would look for additional lanterns for the front of the house. I started researching ideas and found a company online, Lights.com, that offers a number of lighting products. Their product line includes items that require electricity as well as battery operated options. Living in Sunny Southwest Florida, I was particularly interested in their solar battery operated options.

BEFORE

I decided to start with a set of Elloway Solar Lantern Wall Lights. I thought they would be the perfect addition to the front of the house. The lanterns come two to a box. Each lantern comes with a rechargeable battery. There is a tab that needs to be removed before the batteries will begin to charge. The top cap can be turned counter-clockwise to expose the battery area where you will find the tab.

**It is very important to remember this step. Otherwise you will be wondering why your batteries aren’t charging. **

The day I set them out to charge, it was slightly overcast but they still charged in a fairly short amount of time. Pictured below is how brightly lit they were . We didn’t get them hung on the front of the house until a few days later.

The lanterns are well made. They are very sturdy . Even though the bottom of the lantern is very slightly rounded, the lantern will stand on its own! I love this feature and feel that it helps them to be even more versatile!

Each 7″ tall lantern comes with a 6.5 ” metal hanger than attaches to the wall with screws that are provided.

AFTER

Photo taken Sept 2021

The metal wall hooks were easy to install using a drill to insert the screws into the concrete front of our house. I wanted them hung where they would still receive sunlight during the day so the batteries could recharge as needed.

Photo taken Sept 2021

The style of the solar lanterns looks good with our existing coach style electric lanterns. The black color of the lanterns works well with the bronze/brown color of the window sills. I find the lanterns to be timeless. They definitely add the interest I was looking for .

Photo Taken May 2022

CLOSE UPS OF HANGING SOLAR LANTERN

THE VERSATILITY

Not only can you hang the solar lanterns on the wall hooks that they come with, you can hang them from a shepherd’s hook! I love this idea! I simply added a wrought iron shepherd’s hook to this patio pot by our front door. The hook is sturdy enough to hold the weight of the lantern.

The lanterns have a nautical feel to them and look great in our Florida landscape!

Not only did I use them in the front of the house, I added a few to the lanai area. I hung one in one of my large patio pots. I took this photo just as the sun was setting and the solar lantern had just turned on.

Did I mentioned earlier how excited I was to discover that the lanterns would stand on their own? This really increases the usefulness of the lanterns, in my opinion. The lantern was the perfect addition to the sand dollar centerpiece I made for the lanai table .

They can even add light to a dark area of lanai or patio.