The lights did not fail. The box drowned in the shrub.
We open Gilford and Laconia path-light runs in September and find the transformer under a hydrangea that was knee-high at install. The lid is mulched. Irrigation drips on the enclosure. The gasket is a science experiment. The lamps look dead. The circuit is rust. This is not a bulb story. It is a plant that was allowed to bury the hardware.
Belknap Landscape treats that collision as lighting plus maintenance. We uncover and dry the box before we quote a new fixture package.
Hydrangeas hold water on the lid
Big-leaf hydrangeas on a lakeside foundation want moisture. The transformer wants a dry, reachable lid. Those two wants do not share a square foot. Stems lean. Bark piles against the cover. After a lake-effect rain the enclosure sits wet for days. We pull the plant back or we relocate the box. Leaving both in the same hole is how we repeat the call next August.
Second homes miss the early lean. By the time someone notices the path is dark, the hydrangea is in full bloom over the timer. Cutting bloom to reach a screw is an argument we would rather skip. Put a service notch on the design drawing when the shrubs go in.
Irrigation that still soaks that foundation strip every morning is part of the wet box. Move the drip or cap that zone. Do not "fix lighting" while the same drip runs.
Mulch against the enclosure is a fuse
Crews refresh bark and bury the vents. We keep mulch off the lid and we write that in the property file. Construction of a new bed should set the transformer on a pad the hydrangeas cannot swallow in one season. A hidden box behind the water-view planting is a pretty photograph and a failed night path.
One dark lamp can be a fixture. A dark run is power. Open the transformer first. If the interior is wet, lamps will not save it. Turf clippings blown into that same corner add a second wet mat. Aim the blower away from the box.
Uncover, dry, then decide on lamps
Before we buy hardware, we want a day photo of the buried box and a night photo of the dark path. Cut the hydrangea off the lid. Let it dry. Then test. If a separate prune of the whole bed is needed for the view, that is its own line.
Contact us with town and the photo of the shrub over the box. Related notes live on the news page. We would rather move a hydrangea than replace a transformer every other year.