Guide · checked November 14, 2026

Lighting a privacy screen of evergreens

A row of evergreens along the back fence is one of the nicest things to light, and also the easiest place to annoy the neighbor behind you.

How this works: Highlands Ranch Lighting is a free referral service, not a lighting contractor. We pass your request to independent local lighting installers, who may pay us for the referral. They quote, schedule and do the work; check their insurance before you hire. More about us.

Plant first, then wire

New trees need big holes: Colorado State Forest Service guidance is a hole two to three times as wide as the root ball. Trenching cable through a planting area afterward can cut roots. Plant the screen, then run lighting cable along the bed edge, not through the root balls. Colorado 811 marks public lines but not private ones like lighting cable, so keep a sketch of where it runs.

Aim inward

A screen usually sits on the property line, so the neighbor sees the back of it. HRCA requires light cones to stay inside the property and Lone Tree's code says the bulb must not be visible from adjacent property. Light the face of the trees that points at your patio, with hooded, low-output fixtures, and skip uplighting into the canopy, which Douglas County guidance discourages.

Leave room to grow

CSU Extension lists mature sizes like Colorado spruce at about 60 by 25 feet and Spartan juniper at about 12 by 5 feet. Put fixtures on stakes you can move as the trees fill in.

Need the trees first?

Our sister site Denver Privacy Trees takes evergreen screen planting requests from the same area. It is run by the same company as this site, and planting companies there may pay for referrals too.

Related

• Tree and garden lighting
• Dark-sky and HOA lighting rules