A lighted topiary is a welded frame with small LED strings wrapped along its rods, so after dark the animal reads as a drawn outline. It is the one piece in the catalog that does two different jobs. From November it is a glowing figure. The rest of the year, left out unlit, it is a clean steel silhouette.
A lit dachshund on a covered porch at dusk.
How the lighting is fitted
Strings wrapped along the frame’s rods keep the animal recognisable across a garden after dark. Lights thrown over the top blur it into a glowing lump.
The lights are LED throughout. They draw very little and they run cool enough to sit against foliage. They are also the part most likely to outlast your interest in the piece.
Power, and the one thing to plan
These plug in. People forget that until the piece is in position and the nearest outlet is forty feet away.
Work out the cable run before you buy, not after. You need a covered outdoor outlet. Use an outdoor-rated extension if the run needs one. Route the cable so it does not cross a path people walk on.
If you are lighting several, put them on a single switched outlet or a timer. Otherwise switching them on is a nightly chore.
The draw is small enough that a run of several pieces on one circuit is normally fine. But check the rating on the strings you have rather than assuming.
Weather
Damp causes trouble when it gets into a connection. The foliage and the light strings on these pieces are supplied for outdoor use, so rain, snow and cold are not usually the problem. Ask for the specific rating if your position is severe or if the piece will be on a public site.
Keep plugs and joins off the ground. Use a covered outlet. Lift any connection that would otherwise sit in a puddle. Almost every failure we hear about is a connection that spent February underwater rather than a string that stopped working.
Wind matters on the larger pieces. Pin or weight anything over about two feet in an exposed position, for the same reason you would pin a bare frame.
$128. A lit poodle, 17 in. tall.
$250. A sitting cavalier, 16 in.
$414. A basset, 21 in tall and 32 in long.
Seasonal, or all year
Both work. The choice changes what you should buy.
Seasonal. Run it from Thanksgiving to New Year, then bring it in. Wipe it down, let it dry properly, and box it somewhere the damp cannot reach. Damp trapped in storage is the failure we are told about most often, and it shows at the connections.
All year. Buy a shape you would want dark as well as lit. You can leave it out and run it only in season, with the steel outline on display through the other eight months.
Buying for a commercial display
Lighting a hotel forecourt, a retail entrance or a town center is commission work rather than shelf work. Sizes go up and the mounting has to survive a crowd. Everything wants to be on one timed circuit.
Larger lighted pieces, full towers and multi-figure displays are built to a drawing. The Christmas commissions page sets out how that runs. Start in September, because a December display is decided long before December.
For pre-lit trees rather than animals, the lighted artificial range covers spirals and cones. The whole animal range, lit and unlit, is indexed by species on the animals page.
Questions we get asked
Are lighted topiaries outdoor-rated?
The foliage and the light strings both are. Use a covered outdoor outlet and keep plugs and joins off the ground. Damp in a connection causes more failures than weather does.
What do they draw?
Very little. They are LED throughout, and a run of several pieces on one circuit is normally fine. Check the rating on your own strings rather than assuming it.
Can I leave one out all year?
Yes, and many people do. Unlit, the steel silhouette holds a porch or a border through the other months. So buy a shape you would want dark as well as lit.
How do I store one?
Dry. Wipe it down, let it dry properly, then box it somewhere damp cannot reach. Damp trapped in storage is the failure we hear about most, and it shows at the connections rather than in the foliage.
Can you make a larger lighted piece?
Yes, to a drawing, including full commercial displays. Start in September rather than November, because a December display is decided long before December.
