Hiding those green monsters
 

:confused:I can use some suggestions on what I can use to hide thos big ugly green thingies (electric water or whatever they are) in my yard? I sit on my lanai and the view is not pretty..I do not like those tall grasses..any suggestions please....Thanks...Laura

We were just discussing that at lunch after golf. I was thinking to plant some fast growing bottle brush.

Looking for any other good ideas.

What are you two talking about. I tried googling Electric Water Plant... and that's what I got.

Pampas
 

My neighbor planted beautiful tall pampas grass in front of her "green monsters" and it does a perfect job of hiding the box. There is a sign on the box which states nothing can be planted within 3 ft of it, and that whatever IS planted there is subject to removal if the box requires attention. Hence the grass. It can be cut back, but will quickly revive. Happy planting. I will upload a photo later today. Shrandell

I planted Mexican petunias all around mine. They spread easily and really are not in any way obstructing those boxes. The flowers are a pretty purple which fall off every night and come right back the next day, bloom pretty much all year long. May look dead for a while in winter, but they spring right back up and the best part.....no maintainence required.

What do Mexican Petunias look like? I was offered some by a friend who was digging them up because she had too many. I couldn't think where I would put them. So they get kinda big?

I think we dried those out and tried to smoke them back in the sixties.

:mademyday:

:D

This website has info and a picture. http://www.floridata.com/ref/r/ruellia.cfm It's attractive and a good grower but it can be invasive.

Mex Petunias
 

Yes, Jim, and when its legal I'm gonna grow my own :)

Green monsters
 

Bottle brush sounds like a plan with maybe some wandering jews at the base..Hey Gracie, is there a special variety that is fast growing...?
By the way..not for this area anyway..have you seen the weeping willow bottle brush..they are awsome!
Just had another idea to put some Oleandar with a ground cover..See what happends when we get those "electrons " going.....Laura

Oh, so that is the plant that is around our green monsters! It's pretty but sure does shed the purple flowers bad. I'm thinking of replacing them with the small bushy palms. I can't remember the name of them. They look more like a thick, heavy fern to me.

Just to be sure we're all on the same page, when planting near an electric transformer box(which is the bigger one, about 3'x4'), you need to keep 10 feet clear at the front of the box, and 3' clear on the other 3 sides Per elec. company.

Hmmm. Wonder which is the front? They are on property line and no one has built on other lot...Should I plant closer on my side, assuming that is the BACK?

But those folks won't like to look at them either...

What would a good middle class Catholic girl, ex girlscout, former cheerleader, mother and grandmother do in this ethical situation??? :ohdear::icon_wink::1rotfl:

I think alot depends on the location of the box on the property.

Our home backs up to Villas, so we have a wall behind us. There is a box about three feet onto my next door neighbor's lot. Our solution was to have corner bed on that side. We planted pudocarpus to line the lot on the corner. Each side about 10 feet long. It is a great hedge, keep trimming it back and it really fills out. We plant color in front of the hedge annually

I was going to use bottle brush but I was told that it is hard to keep thick (lots foliage) at the bottom (do not take this as fact). Sadly my personal issues have delayed my trip south or I would send a nice picture. All I have are these two, the first shows the box, the second the hedge. The second picture is when it was cold and all way gray. The hedge has really filled in since that picture. Identities in the photo have been hidden.

LOL....I like the hidden identity feature.... LOLOL.

We have a rather large green box out back and it sits in an area where three yards come together. All owners have planted bottle brush around the box, along with some other hedging green bush and it does a good job of "concealing" the box from view. Every now and then, we go out and trim branches around the box making it more visible, but it's still sort of invisible if you get my drift....the green hedges sort of minimize its visibility.

Just be careful when you're planting around the area...cable wires aren't deep in the ground and cutting your cable line is very easy....ask us, it's been cut about three times already... ;)

As lovely as Mexican petunias are, they're not a choice I'd make. The things spread like wildfire and total removal can take years. They spread via runners and manage to keep popping up for a very long time after the main plants have been removed.

Be aware too as you plant items that there will be a retriction on how close you plant these as the people who work for the utilities will need to have access and may require you to move them at some point. Our neighbor has pampas grass planted next to their green box and it camafloges quite nicely but grows like crazy and needs to be hacked off from time to time!

If you like the tall purple flowering Mexican petunia, there is a variety that is sterile - Purple Showers. It's sold by Home Depot. I've had a clump along one side of my house for two years and have never found a seedling.

It does try to expand by sending up stalks from the roots but these are easily removed with a hand trowel when they first appear.

Careful digging
 

Be careful digging too close to Transformers ( the bigger square boxes). The wires are supposed to be 30" in the gound but can be less as it gets to the box. The voltage is 240 - 12,000 volts.:boom:

Should be in conduit though.

Direct Bury
 

Most utilities stop using conduit years ago where there is "dirt" above. They still use it under roads. I was looking at new construction in Sanibel and the cable contractor dug into a direct buried 7,200 volt line. It is rare to see the secondary voltage 120/240V in conduit other than the short run from the meter box to about 24" in the dirt. Talk to a SECO serviceman last year and told me they sometimes make "service taps" in the dirt to save the cost of a pedistal. We would never do that up north, but it snows up there. Conduit cost more money.

What if the box is closer than 10 feet from your house.