Solar Glowing Mushroom Outdoor Lighting

How to make giant solar powered glowing mushrooms for your garden. This is a very simple, quick and inexpensive project that anyone can do with dramatic, magical results in your backyard (or frontyard) space.

Tree roots, small logs or fire log for stems ( most of mine are approx 14-16" high)

Solar garden stake lights ( you can get a six pack of these on Amazon for about $2.50 each) Note: These stake lights have varying ribbing on the plastic casing that will create patterns on your mushroom. I used 2 kinds of stakes: one with vertical ribbing that creates stripes on the mushroom cap when lit. The other 3 have a swirled ribbing which creates a swirled pattern around the edge of the globe. Just something to be aware of when choosing your solar lights.

Glass light globes ( you can usually find these for $2-5 at a Goodwill or Reuse store)

Drill and paddle hole bit, hot glue

Optional: Fake Moss

After gathering your wood pieces, drill a hole in the top of your wood "stem" about 1" deep. I used a straight fire log and also some interesting roots I found in the woods nearby. The roots stand sturdily on their own but a straight log may need some stability so I also drilled a hole in the bottom of that one to insert a stake.

Optional: you can glue on some fake moss to make your logs a little more interesting or weathered. I didn't do this because my stumps already had some moss growing on them and moss grows very quickly in my garden.

For a flat top log you will only need the top "light" part of the solar garden stake. Insert that into the hole you made and secure with a little hot glue incase the fit is not snug.

I had some roots with uneven tops where the hole was a little lower down than the top of the wood. For these I cut off part of the plastic pole stake so the light globe cleared the top of the wood. You don't want the solar light to stick up too high over the wood because you want the glass mushroom top to cover the top edges of the wood for the best effect.

For a straight log, insert the stake part of the solar light into the bottom hole. This will help your straight light stay stable in the ground.

Using hot glue, glue around the edges of the solar panel and place your glass globes on top. Be sure to leave as much of the solar panel exposed through the hole of the glass globe as possible. It's okay if it's covering up some of the panel, but also be sure to use glass globes with the large openings.

Some of these solar garden stakes have batteries and some do not. If yours have batteries, you will still be able to unscrew the top to change batteries with the globe on, but the hot glue will allow you to remove the globe easily if you need or want to.

Set up your mushrooms in your garden or yard where you want them and wait for the magic. You may want to set out your solar lights in the sun for a day or so before putting it all together to make sure they are good and charged when you're ready to set them up.

Once the sun goes down, your garden will be transformed into a magical enchanted fairyland. If your lights start to dim over time, you may need to change the battery in the light or clean off the solar panel.