How to put lights on bushes and hedges

Shrubs and hedges fill the middle ground of a lit property, between the trees above and the walkway below. They are forgiving to work on because everything is within reach, but they are also where uneven light is most obvious: a hedge with a bright stripe across the middle and a dark bottom corner looks careless from the street. The fix is choosing the right method for each shrub and keeping the spacing consistent.

Three ways to light a shrub

Draped or woven mini lights

The most versatile method. A strand of LED minis is worked back and forth across the shrub, with the wire tucked a few inches into the foliage so only the bulbs show. It follows any shape, from a boxwood ball to an irregular azalea, and it lets you control the density exactly. 4 inch spacing minis give a denser glow on small, close-up shrubs by the front door; 6 inch spacing minis cover more ground on large or distant shrubs.

Net-style grid

Net lights are pre-built grids of mini bulbs that are thrown over a shrub like a blanket. They are fast on flat-topped, box-shaped hedges, but they do not follow rounded or irregular shapes well and leave the sides of tall shrubs bare. You can get the same even-grid look with ordinary strands by running them in straight parallel passes along the length of a hedge, which also lets you fit the grid to the hedge's actual size.

C9 bulbs on socket wire

For very large shrubs, a row of mature evergreens along a property line, or anything seen mainly from the road, the bigger C9 bulb reads more clearly than a mini. Cut a length of C9 socket wire with 15 inch spacing to fit, drape it in wide horizontal loops over the outside of the shrub, and fill it with C9 LED bulbs. Fewer, larger points of light look deliberate at distance where minis would blur together.

Estimating strands for shrubs

There is no single number of strands per shrub because density is a matter of taste, so the reliable approach is to test one strand and scale up.

1. Drape one strand over one section of the shrub at the density you like.
2. Measure how much of the shrub's face that strand covered, for example a section 3 feet wide by 2 feet tall.
3. Measure the total face of the shrub or hedge you are lighting (for a hedge, the front plus the top, and the back if it is visible).
4. Divide total face by the area one strand covered, round up, and add a spare.

A hedge 20 feet long and 4 feet tall has an 80 square foot front face. If one strand covered 6 square feet at your chosen density, the front needs 14 strands. Add the top if it will be seen, and buy a spare. When the count climbs past a handful of strands, a 24-strand case keeps the color consistent across the whole hedge.

Step-by-step: weaving lights through a shrub

1. Measure each shrub

   For a rounded shrub, measure its height and its width. For a hedge, measure its length, height and depth. Write the numbers on your property sketch.

2. Pick a method for each shrub

   Use draped or woven minis for most shrubs, a grid pattern for flat-topped hedges, and C9 bulbs on socket wire for very large shrubs viewed from far away.

3. Estimate strands

   Work out the surface area you are covering and allow roughly one 25 foot strand for every few square feet of face at close spacing, then refine the count by test-draping one strand.

4. Test the strands

   Plug every strand in on the ground and set aside any that do not fully light.

5. Start at the bottom near the power

   Put the plug end at the base of the shrub on the side facing your cord, so the lead does not cross the face of the display.

6. Weave in and out of the outer branches

   Work the strand back and forth across the shrub in shallow zigzags, tucking the wire a few inches into the foliage so the bulbs sit on the surface and the wire is hidden.

7. Keep the zigzags consistent

   Keep the distance between passes the same all the way up so the shrub glows evenly with no bright bands or dark patches.

8. Join strands inside the shrub

   Make end-to-end connections tucked inside the foliage and off the ground, staying within the maximum connection count printed on the strand packaging.

9. Check from the street

   Switch on at dusk and look from where visitors will see the display. Pull bulbs out of the foliage where the shrub looks dim and spread them where it looks crowded.

Wire color and white choices

Green wire disappears into foliage and is the right choice for almost every shrub. White wire is useful on shrubs that will be covered in snow for much of the season, or on white-painted structures nearby. Whatever white you choose for the bulbs, match it to the trees and windows on the rest of the property. Warm White (2800-3200K), Sun Warm White (2600-2800K) and Winter Warm White (2900K) are all offered on minis; pick one and use it everywhere.

Common shrub mistakes

• Lighting only the top. Strands laid over the crown leave the lower half dark. Start at the bottom and work up.
• Wrapping in circles. Wrapping a round shrub like a tree trunk crushes the foliage and concentrates light in rings. Weave across the face instead.
• Burying the bulbs. Tuck the wire, not the bulbs. A bulb deep inside a dense shrub is wasted.
• Too many strands in one run. Long hedges tempt you to keep plugging strands end to end. Stay within the printed maximum and feed a long hedge from both ends if needed.

For walkways and beds in front of the shrubs, continue with the walkway stake guide.