Landscaping
to Hide Eyesores

Whether it's a useful but unattractive compost pile, a satellite dish that's incongruous with your French colonial home, or sewer vent pipes that are just plain ugly, most home landscapes have something the home owner would rather not display to the neighborhood. Here are some simple, affordable solutions to common garden eyesores.

Air conditioners, heat pumps, propane tanks, and garbage cans

All of these require a few feet of space, either to function properly (primarily for ventilation) or to allow access. The simplest solution is a a trellis or fence panel with climbers like clematis, sweet peas, honeysuckle, or even roses. For a more permanent fixture, hedges can be planted to screen off the area. Even in cooler climates, bamboo will grow tall and thick enough to hide any of these landscape fixtures. Ornamental grasses may work as well.

Satellite dish

For larger satellite dishes on the ground, planting tall, showing flowers near it is the simplest way to make it more attractive. For smaller dishes up to eighteen inches, there are hollow “rocks” that look and feel like granite boulders, but don’t interfere with reception.

Compost Bins

For compost bins, one side must be left open for access, but all the other sides can be camouflaged with plants. Wrap your compost bin with a trellises and plant some vines like sweet peas or honeysuckle. Bamboo and ornamental grasses will easily screen these low structures. The simplest option is to build soil into a low hill that just hides the compost pile and plant the hill will medium- to tall-growing flowers such as day lillies.

Garages and Sheds

While such large objects are impossible to hide, they can be made more attractive. Some vines or tall, narrow shrubs can be a great improvement. Install window boxes or, if you don't have windows, install some wall brackets and hang wire baskets from them. White walls can also make an excellent backdrop for tall, showing plants like day lilies if beds at the foot of the wall. Be sure to include some evergreens in the mix so the wall doesn't appear too stark in winter. Also, instead of hiding it, you can highligh the building to make it seem less shunned and neglected -- paint it to match your home (trim and all), add a weathervane to the top, and build a path to it. Keep in mind, too, that any wall or building being landscaped should be in good repair, as a crumbling building is not only ugly, but dangerous.

Stumps

Stumps can be dressed up, hidden, or completely removed. To "naturalize" the stump into the garden, hollow out the center or just drill some large holes and fill them cascading petunias or other trailing plants. Depending on the size of the stump you can also place flower boxes or a pot or two on top of it. To conceal the stump, plant creeping plants in the center of the stump and tall plants on the ground in a full circle around the stump. If you'd rather just get rid of the thing, you can also have the stump professionally removed (fees vary by the size of the stump) or speed up its decay with commercial products like "Stump Rot" or "Stump Remover" which bring decay time down to about three years.

Pipes and posts

Pipes, posts, and downspouts can easily be dressed up with climbing vines, but be sure the vine you choose will not become so heavy it will tear the down spout off the wall. Ivy should be fine, but wisteria will tear down all but the strongest structures. To help vines to climb the pipes, attach bird netting or a coil of baling wire around them. Netting and wire also works well for lamp posts. [See BLI's Trailing Plants and Climbing Vines list for plant choice ideas.]

General tricks

Erecting a rock wall -- even a dry stack wall built without mortar using dry stone wall construction techniques -- is another way to block the view of compost. Sections of inexpensive cedar stake fencing or snow fence may also work if securely attached to sturdy posts and planted with climbing vines. For metal boxes, tanks, and chain-link fences, painting them a "natural" color (any that fits into your landscape) can also help them blend in.

A final note

Remember, the landscaping eyesore may not really be as prominent to a guest or passer-by as it seems to you. It's possible to over-do a disguise and make the problem stand out even more than it did. If you emphasize the good parts of your home and landscape, little "problems" like a compost bin or drain pipe will fade away without any extra help.