Tree & Landscape Lighting · Muskoka
Tree and Landscape Holiday Lighting in Muskoka
In Muskoka the trees are the setting. A lit white pine on the point or a row of birch along the drive does more for a cottage at Christmas than any amount of roofline.
Tree and landscape lighting is quoted on its own or with the house. It is where colour often goes, where a cottage's character shows, and where the most care is taken with the dark-sky rules, because a lit tree can glare across a bay in a way a roofline does not.
What is lit
- White pine and spruce. Lower branches draped or wound, as high as can be reached safely. The big shoreline pines are lit from the bottom up; the tops are left to the sky.
- Birch and maple. Trunks wrapped tight and main branches wound out. A clump of white birch wrapped in warm white is the classic Muskoka look.
- Paths and steps. Low lights along the path down to the water or up to the door, placed where the plow and the snowbank will not bury them.
- Wreaths and garland. On doors, porch posts, deck railings and the boathouse door.
Within the by-laws
Low-wattage LED, aimed at the tree, not across the water. In Muskoka Lakes the festive limit is 10 watts or 70 lumens per bulb, off from 11 p.m. to sunrise; Lake of Bays exempts low-wattage Christmas lighting from its aim-down rule but prohibits laser light for entertainment, so laser projectors are not used. Path lights stay low. Dock and boathouse electrical work is outside this site's lane and is left to a licensed electrical contractor.
Power lines and rock
The Electrical Safety Authority advises checking for overhead power lines before decorating an outdoor tree and staying at least three metres away. On rural Muskoka lots the service often runs overhead through the trees from the road, and any part of a tree within that distance is not lit. Much of the ground here is granite with little soil, so stake lights are not always possible; paths are lit with weighted or rail-mounted fittings instead.
Snow and wind
Lower connections on trees are kept above the expected snow depth, which by the end of an average December is around 26 cm at the airport and deeper in the bush. Wraps are tied off for wind off open water. Anything frozen into a snowbank at takedown is left until it can be freed.
Frequently asked questions
Can you light the whole of a tall white pine?
Usually only the lower part that can be reached safely. Shoreline pines are tall, and anything within three metres of a power line is not lit.
Will lit trees bother the neighbours across the lake?
Warm-white low-wattage LED aimed at the tree, on a timer that ends by eleven, is about as considerate as holiday lighting gets. Bright colour-changing floods aimed over the water are not used.
Can you light the path down to the dock?
Yes, with low path lights placed out of the snowbank's way. Wiring on the dock or boathouse itself is electrical work for a licensed contractor.
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