Plant roses around it and a stern talk for DH?

Carla

Give up TV and take up books.

you can't cover it, you'll lose reception.

Eeeww! I bet DH was in trouble. In zone 6 you wouldn't want to plant any teas, I guess, but you must have some big, buxom HPs that you could plant downhill from the thing. They'll get tall and beautiful. No one will see the thing, but the thing will still be able to see the satellite. I know the HP's - Baronne Prevost - get BIG here.

Don't be too mad at DH. He may have provided a whole new garden scheme for you to pursue. You can milk this for lots of roses!

Sherry

Oh Barbara! That is just not right. Did your hubby let them put it there? Looks like something that would happen when I'm not home. Can they move it to a less conspicuous location? If not, I'm not sure what I would plant. I'm sure others will have suggestions.
Remy

I would plant down hill from the dish. Even if the roses get higher than the dish and disguise it from the street, the dish is pointed upward and you will still get reception.

The only other thing you could do is mount it on a pole further back.

paint it green? Maybe stick a big gazing ball on it?

How big is the dish? Maybe if they lower the pole this could be a fix for you.
http://www.vrcomposites.com/rocks/satellite.dish.covers.htm

This site makes me wonder if you couldn't use the fake rocks they use to cover well sites. The well-cover type rocks can be purchased at HD or Lowes in our area.

If you cover the satellite dish, you will not get any reception at all. It needs to see the satellite.

I think I would see if you could get them to move it to another area that is not important to you, especially if it was installed without consulting you first as to location. I'd be a squeeky wheel on that one.

Sandy

Could they put it up in the top of the back yard? There's quite a slope going up there with a clear view over the roof and it should clear the house top (the "clear view of the southern sky" they so famously advertise.)

Treat it as an "architectural sculpture".

I would hedge it with pebbles around, and maybe add a few rusted metal objects/poles around my garden. That's just me.

I would plant arborvitaes around the perimeter that is not facing the sky... and a lower hedge around the front to cover the pole... non flowering evergreens like a Thread Leaf False Cypress...

I see a round brick structure below it... another option is to build another structure around the pole and turn it into a raised planting bed...

Thanks all!
Catrose, I could give up TV with a blink of the eye. But, DH is a video producer and considers TV as part of his professional research. Of course, I don't know how NFL Sunday Ticket fits into that.

Ann, I wish, I wish. They tried putting it in the back yard. But you are forgetting the row of my neighbors trees on the east side (along the BW tree line) and my own Arborvitae on the west. Then on the north side there is the rows of giant spruce trees. On the other side of the house (south side-front) is a very tall black walnut tree blocking the view from that corner.

Ronda, It is as tall as the junipers which are I'm guessing about 4 feet.

Sandy, this was DH's suggestion to the DTV guys. They were ready to leave for lack of finding a location. His thinking was, well good wife can join the two beds and plant something low in front of it. He does not do gardening. Joining the two beds would destroy the "crescent shape" of the bed on the right (which in the end I might give up). I think I would have put it behind the junipers and figured out something else on the driveway side. But, I can't come up with much of anything that really "hides" the dam* thing.

Decobug, your suggestions seem the most viable. That brick structure you see is a faux rock thingie that I placed there because as I was digging to plant a rose ran into a very LARGE rock that neither DH nor I could remove. However, planting arborvitae behind it would block sun from my peonies. But, a raised bed in front? That might be something I could play with. It won't hide it but might take the eye away, briefly.

Jumbojimmie, I would love to see samples of the rusty structures. I'm not opposed to that. It sounds somewhat interesting.

Buford, your suggestion is also a good one. Yes, I think at this point disguise is the best option.

Len511-LOL. If I didn't hate gazing balls...but wait, it might look better than that monster and certainly would detract. Hummm.

You folks are great. I thank you all for your suggestions and sympathy. I'm anxious to hear more. I knew I could count on you.
Barbara

I'm coming in late, but decobug's suggestion is similar to what I had in mind. I have a weakness for broadleaf evergreen shrubs (all evergreens, actually) and for clipped hedges. I would make the dish the centerpiece, however incongruous, of a small grouping of shrubs (box, lower-growing yew, eleagnus?, privet?, perhaps others), lower in front and higher in back, sufficiently to cover the post in front and the whole thing from behind; I assume this won't interfere with reception. The planting would draw its interest from the contrast of different shades and textures of green and the different forms of the clipped shrubs. It's a sort of modern, abstract topiary without the excess. It would fit stylistically with the dish probably about as well as anything. Making it go with all the other plants around would be an interesting challenge. I've wanted to do a topiary garden for years, but haven't yet worked it out.

Melissa

Ronda, I just took a look at your web link. I didn't know they make disk covers. However, almost $600.00 is a bit too much for my budget. I will show it to DH anyway.

Melissa, a topiary garden. Good idea. It will have to be very small, but that is something to think about. Might work. Ledew (misspelled) Gardens is not far from me. Maybe I'll take a visit to get ideas.

Thanks.

Barbara

I'd go right back to DirectTV and make them relocate it. Offer to send them that picture as an example of their work and tell them you'd be happy to make a video to put on YouTube for them. Is this the front of your house and is that driveway the approach to your house?

There is not much you can do with that. It either belongs further down, below the existing screening, or on one side of your house, not smack dab in the middle of your grass walkway to the lower lawn. And as for the wind, bull roar. They wanted to do that kind of stuff at our house, mounting it in our courtyard-like entry. It's like the power company. They'd put the gas and electric meter by the front door, if you let them. Our dish is mounted on the exterior wall facing the garage with a special triangular support mount to protect it and the house from the wind.

If that doesn't work, you can extend the existing screening one more plant uphill of the dish to screen it from the house.

Mine is installed at the corner of the railing of my deck,where it joins the front of the house. The deck fills the L created by the bedroom wall slider and the living room slider. I have to make an effort to see it - not only is it oriented out and away from the deck, kind of angling toward the front of the house, it seems to be smaller than yours, but that may be a trick of context. But it was attached on the front of the house, and since I have a driveunder garage under the bedroom, and the electric meter is on the garage wall below it, it sort of all is ok. No one ever has to actually notice any of the techie things since they are not anywhere near normal enjoy-the-yard foot traffic.
Is there any way a house mount, not on the roof, could work?

Unfortunately, Berndoodle, the placement was DH's selection. According to him, the DTV men had given up finding a suitable location and were ready to leave. This was a last ditch effort.

Sunnysideuphill, we had a much smaller, plastic one mounted on the roof. But, early next year with the coming of HDTV, it will be obsolete. We had the TV break and the TIVO start to act up so DH decided it was time to upgrade. This is what I am stuck with. I don't think they can mount it to the house without great difficulty.

Thanks for your suggestions.
Barbara

Plant another arborvitae shrub behind it, and get an art student to paint it to look like part of the shrubbery. That will camoflague it year round.

Barbara, my husband's suggestion was that you cancel DirectTV and go with Dish Network which uses two small dishes that you can mount practically anywhere. We have high winds here and have our dishes on the pergola that is attached to the house, and have never that the slightest problem in almost three years. They're about a foot across each and very inconspicuous. I'm so sorry this happened to you, I'd be in tears. I hope something can be worked out that will solve this problem to your satisfaction.

Wishing you luck,

Ingrid

Maybe you could make it do dual-duty as a sundial, with some Roman numerals painted on it and a pole in front to cast the shadow. Dover has a little pb book on sundials that would be helpful. You would have to consult with the company to see if a special reception-friendly paint would be needed.

I personally would like a tough Juniper of an attractive variety planted behind it, especially if the wind comes from that direction, as it would help to protect the disc.

A Clematis could probably decorate the bottom support, and the whole thing could be fronted by low-growing Rugosas. Maybe you could even incorporate a low bench to complete the illusion of a deliberate garden ornament. ;o)

I sawed my one down that was on a 6 foot steel pole with a 5 foot dish and threw it out. I know, I know it does not help you as you probably would be single if you did it. They are an urban eyesore even in the country.

In our next of the woods with terrific winds nearly all year, 90 to 95% are installed on the side of houses and pointed south with maybe 1% to 5% on the roof - something not right with company, sounds like they were taking the easy way out and holding your DH over a barrel due to his urgent need to have it.

She can't cancel DTV and get Dish Network, they don't have the NFL Sunday Ticket (fellow football widow here, but I've decided I'm going to start watching it with him, just to annoy him!). And I'm not sure they have HDTV service yet. We will have to upgrade to HDTV for our DTV soon and I'm apprehensive now. We have two dishes, but one is on the roof and the other is on the side of the house. But we are lucky in that we are in new construction and have no trees.

Maybe a cool looking Japanese Maple?

I can't believe it can't be mounted on or closer to the house. The house is higher in elevation. You did not have good installers, and don't take no for an answer. Good places include on the chimney. We have a very windy hill top location, and ours is on the side of the house. Call them up and demand a re-look by a different crew.

I feel your pain, my DH let the gas co. put a huge 300# propane tank right in front of my garden bed along a stonewall. So now I have this huge white submarine and it's just as attractive as your dish.

I was thinking of putting lattice around it with an access door, then planting something on that.

-Karyn

JBCarr, I think you may be right. I think they took advantage of DH's good nature. I really cannot fault him as he has pretty much let me have carte blanche with the garden and is very complimentary about my efforts. I would like to avoid a "war". Some things just are not worth the aggravation.

I think I may extend the "crescent shaped bed", the lower one, to run parallel to the one with the junipers. I would extend it to the driveway and effectively make a path. If you look at the second and third photos, maybe you can see what I'm talking about. Maybe a crape myrtle or a crab apple tree.

What would be a hardy, tall, no spray rose shrub for that location? Any other ideas?

Thank you all for your time and your thoughts.

Barbara

Engineer husband who likes gardens said that everything looks better in groups of 3, so you should plant 2 more and make a dish grouping. I gave him a stern look and said this was no help.

But then he said that the reception for the dish comes in at a high angle (the satellite is up overhead); the reception would most likely not be hampered by putting something in front of it to block the horizontal line of sight from someone standing on the ground. He says you can use a broom to check when the reception is disturbed and use that as a guide as to how high your wall or plantings could be.

So why not a wall - maybe you'd like something like Elizabeth Lawrence's wall in her garden - Go to A Peek at the Garden and scroll through until you come to that wall. What possibilities!

Here is a link that might be useful: Go look for the wall

OK, Duchesses, I found the wall, but I'm not sure I understand where you would put the wall. What is the priority? Hide the dish from view looking behind it, or hide the dish from view looking in front of it, ie, from the driveway? Mine would be from the driveway. Of course, I would like to hide it altogether, but if you look at the first photo above you will see there is a border directly behind the dish running in front of the house. There is not a lot of space for a wall there. Looking at the 3rd photo above you will see there is not a lot of space between the two beds, the one with the junipers and the "crescent" shaped one with the faux rock thingie.

Your suggestion is intriguing, but can you explain a little more?

Barbara

I think the dish should be painted as a bullseye for passing birds. Bombs away!

Barb,
You know my mind is full of "ideas" which you might not find helpful. This placement is so invasive that laughing seems totally inappropriate.

I'm with Berndoodle. Make them move it. But, you have to pick the spot where you can live with it and get DH to agree. There must be a spot, with the same view of the sky, where you won't see it every time you come home.

Don't delay or you might get used to it! OK, maybe not.

Barbara,
The view from the street level or driveway would be more important to me too. So anything I did would be to disguise it from that angle.

I'd try to determine what is the maximum height something could be so as not block the reception but yet hide it and let that determine placement. Because it's on a slope the distance from the dish would have an effect on the height as well. I'd just play around with it to try to decide where to put something.

Then I would do whatever I had to in order to put something of that height in front of it. I would move or redo beds in order to make the entire thing flow with the junipers. The wall was just an idea of something tall to go in front of it to hide it; it could be anything.

The main thing I was trying to contribute is a way to determine how high something could be and not block reception. If the ground is very rocky a wall is probably not easily added as you'd have to add a concrete footing underneath it in order to add it, which means a lot of digging. Mainly, I would look at the area as a whole, using the height nd placement of the beast-hider as a central point and design the beds accordingly.

I hope this helps a little, anyway. That thing would drive me crazy, so I feel for you.

On the other hand, when everything is in bloom, maybe you'll forget about it being there because you'll be looking at all the other things you enjoy looking at? When confronted with problems like this I wait a long time to do anything, but I'm a slow mover.

Duchess, very helpful,indeed! Yes, determining the height is the most important. I'm thinking moving down the hill with an extension of the "crescent" bed might do it. DH thinks 10-12 feet would be acceptable, but the further down the hill, the taller the plant could be. And, yes, I think bloom will make a difference. Those plants closest to the thing in the crescent bed are Gallicas. They were prunned before the THING was installed. You can barely see their canes on the edge of the first photo.

I will play with the design on paper first and see what it looks like. Maybe some idea may occur to me in the process. But now at least I have a direction to travel.

Harry, we have been over this a million times. There simply is not another place for this thing to go. It is such a pity my house is facing south. It must be on that side of the driveway because of the cable that connects to the house. That side is loaded with trees. I would love to get rid of the big black walnut tree and open up that space, but it would cost a pretty penny that we don't have.

Thank you.

Barbara