The garden went dark quickly once the sun dropped. Leaving the steel chair base, I scaled the grooved plastic pole of a low garden stake beside the patio pavers. At the top sat a compact solar lantern. Its small photocell had just tripped, igniting a cool white LED behind a faceted lens. The glare illuminated a circular zone across the soil and mulch below. Crouching on the plastic cap, I examined the seam where the solar housing meets the clear dome. The battery casing gave off a faint, steady hum of stored energy. From this height, every crawling movement across the illuminated garden perimeter stays in full sight.