Tree & Landscape Lighting · Waterloo

Tree and Landscape Holiday Lighting in Waterloo

Waterloo's 1970s and 80s neighbourhoods now have trees taller than the houses, and its newer streets have tidy front beds and young spruce. Both make good holiday lighting, in different ways.

Tree and landscape lighting fills out a display and often matters more than the roofline on houses set back from the street, on Beechwood's curving crescents for example, where the front yard is what you see first.

Trees

• Deciduous trunk and limb wraps. Tight, even spirals up the trunk and out each main limb to a set point. A mature maple or honey locust can take several hundred feet of string.
• Evergreens. Spruce and pine draped or spiralled from the top so the cone shape reads. Blue spruce on newer lots is a favourite.
• Uplighting. For a striking tree, a pair of outdoor-rated spotlights at the base can do more than strings.

Power lines first

Before any tree is lit, the installer checks where the overhead lines run. The Electrical Safety Authority asks for at least three metres of clearance from overhead lines when decorating an outdoor tree or using a ladder. In older parts of Waterloo the service drop often runs through or past a front tree; branches near it are left alone.

Yard and porch

• Hedges and foundation shrubs. Cedar hedges and yews netted or wrapped.
• Walkways. Stake lights or a low run along the path, placed so the shovel and snowblower can still get through. January's average snow cover is a real factor here.
• Wreaths, garland and planters. On doors, porch railings and garages, lit from an outlet or battery.

Snow, ice and wind

Waterloo's December and January bring snow on more than half the days and a steady west wind. Lit branches carry a load of wet snow or freezing rain like any other branch, and a string pulled tight across a limb can be torn when the branch flexes. Strings are wrapped with a little slack at each turn, connections are lifted off the ground and sealed so they do not sit in meltwater, and stake lights along the walk are placed at the edge of the bed where they will not be buried by every shovelful. If a heavy snowfall takes part of a display out, it is checked on the next service visit once the snow settles.

Care for the tree

Strings are wrapped loosely enough to avoid girdling, and removed after the season. Boulevard trees belong to the City, so lights are kept to trees on your property.

Frequently asked questions

Serving Waterloo and surrounding areas. Contact us for a no-obligation quote specific to your property.