plant a gorgeous garden.. and no one pays attention to the utilities ... as an example.. see below .. AC, spigot, gas meter ... second spigot.. hose ... and one dwarf .... does any of it bother you if i hadnt mentioned it ...... ken

ps: i mean really... should i paint the siding to match the garden .. lol .. i do look forward to what others do ... but the bottom line for me always comes down to spending a hundred bucks on more hosta/conifers .... or some structure to hide the AC ... lol ...

{{gwi:334831}}

Who cares about an air conditioner when you have an adorable little red head in the garden? What a cutie! MCT

Here is the area in question. Like I said it is currently a weed bed!

View coming in gate-new hosta area left, chicken coop and oak tree on right.

The entire wall-

As you can see, there is an abundance of utility stuff.

Annette

credit the weeds .. generic round up ....

lay down a path .. of your choice ...

bring in 80 yards of mulch .. your choice ... rake smooth .. leaving it 3 to 5 inches thick depending ont he courseness of the mulch ... after settling you want 2 to 3 inches ....

buy hosta ... 200 ought to be about right ...rotflmbo .....

ken

Plant a screen far enough to get behind and not cause circulation problems such as upright yews. Remember fast growing cheap plants will continue to grow fast and over grow the spot. Deciduous trees will cause leaf problems for the AC and not screen in the winter.

As Ken says the more attractive the planting is the less utilities will be noticed!

Ken knows well evergreens which will be their own feature if you get good advice on varieties that give long term beauty.

might be too much shade for conifers .. but check out the conifer forum over the next month .... i will be posting a lot of spring pix .. when they flush out ....

but i will put in the caveat that i garden in zone 5 ... and GA is a long way away .... so you will have to research what conifers will not tolerate your heat ... and your shade ....

ken

Some tall growing ferns would like the condensation that forms around those ac units.

Lisa

sum and substance will cover the THREE??? a/c units ... one near each .... but far enough away ... and drain them right onto the hosta .... ken

Put up a "wall" of trellises and grow climbing hydrangea and/or Five Leaf Akebia on it. Both will provide some sort of winter interest (hydrangea bark and FLA is semi-evergreen in milder climates and can grow in shade. FLA grows quickly and hydrangea takes a few years to get rollin' along. If you plant them alternately side by side, you will have quick cover while the hydrangea develops.

I think a row of dwarves would be perfect...love Ken's dwarf, need to get me one of those. LOL! Very cute.

S&S...Blue Angel...Guardian Angel, and of the large ones would look great there. You'd be so awed you wouldn't even notice the utilities.

Here's a photo of my air conditioner etc. surrounded by hostas. You really do tend to notice just the plants when they're more mature, the utilities just kind of blend in. You can't see in the photo but the hosta area continues past the air conditioner and around the corner too.

Thanks all for the help.
I would love to spray the entire area with Roundup, but since my husband is a beekeeper and I collect poutlry, we tend to avoid chemical treatments, so it looks hand weeding for me (or I may just put a few hens out there for a few hours and let them at it.
I would love to put some conifers in, but I have had an abysmal time with hemlocks, which is the extent of my knowledge of shade tolerant conifers. Maybe Yews??
I do have a few volunteer ferns between the AC units, so they would definitely be a great addition. Don't know why I didn't think of it!
Dwarves, hmmmm. Well since we already have 6 cats, 4 dogs, 2 parakeets, 30+ chickens and multiple beehives, I think I'll pass on anything else that needs to be fed or nurtured LOL.
I have been also dying to get a climbing hydrangea, but could never come up with a good spot to put it. Finally, it looks like I can bring one home!

Annette

You could build a tall 3 sided screen out of lattice and grow ivy up it. Make sure you put hinges on it so it can be folded for easy access.Id love to see a punch of color as a backdrop to your future hosta plantings. Perhaps some hydrangea in front of the screen. You have a blank canvas there so be creative.