Warm white everywhere in the garden, or mix in some colour?

I run two completly diferent setups for exactly this reason. Weeknights the garden is warm white at about 30 percent on the path lights and a soft amber uplight on the apple tree, and honestly that's all we want with a glass of wine. Then for barbecues or when people come over I've got a scene called Party that brings in a slow colour cycle on the fence spots, mostly blues and greens because I learned the hard way that red makes the whole garden feel like a crime scene. Same as you, deep red just doesn't work outside no matter how much I like it indoors. I switch between the two with a Hue dimmer switch mounted by the back door, one button for the calm scene, hold for the party one. That way guests don't have to ask me to fiddle with my phone. One thing that helped me stop flip flopping was realising the amber wash over the flowerbeds is basially colour anyway, just a tasteful version of it. So I stopped thinking of it as warm white versus colour and more as one scene that happens to be amber. My only rule now is nothing brighter than it needs to be, because oversaturated colour at full brightness is what tips things into nightclub territory.

I'm firmly in the warm white camp for the garden, even for entertaining, and I think the flip flopping comes down to how the colours sit against planting. My back garden is heavily planted with grasses and silvery foliage, and I found out fairly quickly that saturated colours fight with the plants rather than showing them off. What worked for me was sticking to whites and ambers but varying the intensity instead. After dinner I drop everything to around 15 or 20 percent and the whole space feels completely different without any colour at all. If you want variety, try shifting the warmth rather than the hue, something like a cooler white over the seating area and a candle tone down the path gives contrast that reads as intentional rather than party lighting. I run it all off a Hue dimmer switch taped inside the back door, one button for full, one for low, and honestly that is all the control I have ever needed out there. Colour scenes feel like something you enjoy for a week and then quietly stop using, whereas a well balanced warm scheme is something you never get tired of looking at.

Total beginner here so take this with a pinch of salt, but I've only got a tiny patio rather than a proper garden, just one wall light and a string of bulbs, and I noticed something similar from the other side. Colour looks totally different depending on wheather you're outside in it or viewing it through the back doors. From my sofa, blues and greens read as calm, but step outside and it's a different story. Do any of you check your scenes from inside the house before deciding they work? I've binned a few that looked great on my phone but odd from the kitchen window.

What made the difference for me was putting the colour low down instead of up high. I had spots on the fence doing the nightclub thing no matter what colour I picked, then moved a couple of small ones into the borders at ground level and suddenly it worked. Green tucked under the ferns looks like moonlight filtering through, and a soft blue behind the pond is subtle becuase the water does the work. Up high everything just washes over you, low down it reads as part of the garden. Worth trying before you write colour off entirely.

Update: tried the low down trick someone mentioned, moved one of the fence spots into the border at ground level under the ferns, and it genuinely changed everything. Soft green down there looks lush instead of spooky. Also noticed they were right about viewing it from inside versus out, the whole scene reads completely differently through the patio doors. Next question, do you lot bother dimming the colour scenes for late nights or just turn the whole lot off?