WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Landscaping around utility boxes, Part 2

July 21, 2011

So, last week we were planning how to hide ugly electrical boxes, and this week, we need to get busy planting. I went with the homeowners out to the garden center and we did a little shopping. And after talking with them, I found out that what they wanted was something that would block the view from the road, more so than from their houses. We wanted something that would provide a year-round screen, so an evergreen is what we were looking for. And we found this beautiful globe arborvitae.

It gets up about 4- to 5-feet tall and wide. It would look beautiful right in front of that electrical box to block the view from the road, but not get too big so that it's going to overwhelm the space and cause a problem in the future.

We got a couple of those shrubs and then they wanted a little color. So we got a small leaf rhododendron. This variety is an 'Olga Mezzitt,' small-leaf rhododendron, that only gets about 4- or 5-feet tall, stays green all year-round, and has beautiful salmon-pink colored flowers in the spring. The combination of arborvitae and rhododendron will have the nice visual block they're looking for, plus it's going to have some flower color in spring. They can also plant some annuals in front of these shrubs for color, too. 

Let's start by digging the holes. You want to dig your holes for the 'Woodward' arborvitaes, 2 feet wider than the root ball, and as deep as it was in the nursery.

Usually, you would not add a soil amendment such as compost, but in this case, we are, because this is very sandy soil and will dry out quickly in summertime. Compost will help keep it moist and feed the shrubs. Mix the compost in the hole, open up the burlap that's around the root ball, (you don't have to take it off but open it up so that the roots can get out), plant, and water it really well, especially in the heat of the summer. Add some mulch and you're done.

By Charlie Nardozzi

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Landscaping around utility boxes