Hiding eyesores

Eyesores, whether on your property or your neighbors, are hard to endure.

Some things just can’t be torn down, moved or ignored.

Hiding satellite dishes

Satellite dishes seem to be a favorite topic for discussion. And while you can plant to cover the back of the dish with a hedge of Arbor Vitae shrubs, a combination of deciduous shrubs, or a trellis covered with grapes or a flowering climber, you can’t disguise and cover the whole dish because it will interfere with reception.

If your satellite dish is stationary, doesn’t move between satellites, you can face the backside of the dish with shrubs, drawing a line parallel to the back of the dish and slightly cupping the planting to the side-edges of the dish. But you don’t want to curve the planting around and produce a deep hollow for the dish to sit in. When mature the shrubs could break up the side lobes where part of your reception is coming into the dish.

Create the bed for your plants, looking ahead to maturity, a minimum of four-feet from the dish on the leading edge. You want to provide enough space so that a technician can work on the dish without climbing through the brush.

Few people have the older moving satellite dishes now, but if you do, the same rules hold true, except you may have to enlarge the cup to allow full movement and keep the planting in a parallel line with the back of the dish.

Hiding air conditioners

Air conditioners also seem to rate high on gardeners’ lists of objects to hide or disguise. The same rules should apply to both satellite dishes and air conditioners. Keep your planting, planning for maturity, far enough away from the unit, approximately four-feet, to allow a technician to access it.

Planning for maturity is difficult for some gardeners to judge, because they are planting these small plants that are only 18-inches tall. A mature shrub at seven-feet-tall seems a long way down the road. In the meantime, fill in the space with annuals or short-lived perennials so that the shrubs can grow into the space.

Hiding telephone pedestals

The one eye-sore that cannot be dealt with by planting around it is a telephone pedestal or an electrical box. The problem is not with the plants but with the amount of water the plants are going to require for survival. You don’t want water near either one of these. Grass may be planted around them because it does not have a deeply rooted system and doesn’t require deep watering to remain viable.

Trellis plants

If you choose to use a trellis to hide an eyesore on your property or along a fence to hide your neighbor’s, be sure to construct it sturdily enough to survive the weight of the plant you intend to use.

Many of the summer blooming clematis are trimmed to 8-inches above the ground every spring. This does not allow an excessive amount of plant to double with the passing seasons. But the fall blooming autumn clematis is an extremely heavy grower and needs a heavier trellis to accommodate it.

Trumpet vines are useful if planted away from buildings. This plant can tear siding and soffits off your house.

Foundation plantings

These same rules apply to foundation plantings. Many gardeners plant their shrubs too close to the house. Once mature the shrubs do not leave enough room for some one to paint the house or even clean the debris from deciduous plants.

Watch where the snow accumulates

Because of wildfires in the West homeowners are encouraged to not over plant or to plant too close to house or outbuildings due to fire danger. People puzzle on how to tell if a tree or shrub is too close. One suggestion is to watch how the snow accumulates around your house and on your roof. If snow puddles up under the overhang of a roof or close to your house in a 90 degree corner,for instance, you know where the same pattern will develop in case of fire.

Check with insurance & homeowners associations

Remember to check with your home owners’ association, if you have one, about what limitations are set on trees and shrubs in your neighborhood.

And, perhaps surprisingly, check with your insurance provider. A planting too close to the house or outbuildings may raise your rates.