I was a landscaper for 11 years and am now a Utility meter reader. I am confounded by the "feeling" or "need" for people to hide meters! They really are not "ugly". I find it quite Annoying to have to move a bush out of the way or stick my head in the bushes to read your meter! It is totally unnecessary and wrong to cover your meter. Especially in snow or rainy conditions, not to mention the bugs! If it is covered, It means i have to walk into your garden. I dont want to do that. You probably dont want that either , do you? Most people dont like their flowers and bulbs potentially stomped. I think the best landscaping around a meter is a stone or brick or tiled path directly to the meter! Directly in front of it or leading to it from 3 directions depending on the travel of the typical meter reader. Perhaps a path incorporating also a path to the hose faucet if there is one. Make it a stop along the path. Perhaps some small plants or flowers that arent too high. Thats right. Not many people consider the path of the meter reader in their landscaping. When they do, believe me, it is greatly appreciated. The meter is part of our connection to the infrastructure and should be incorporated not hidden, but celebrated. Perhaps i go a bit far in my opinion, but really. I dont think so. I think the meter "area" should look like a little shrine. but that is just my opinion. ;-) However, There is a reason that bushes and trees are not supposed to be blocking the meters. We read them every month. though you probably rarely ever see us. We (I) appreciate the thought people put into their landscaping. We have to walk through every one in the whole neighbor hood. And the idea of moving the meter to the back of the house is utterly silly, totally frivolous. Especially if you have a fenced back yard. The meters being easily seen is a good thing. That means a meter reader spends less time trying to find , read, then leave your property. Less stomping in gardens, less hunting for meters, less annoyance for every one. Less skipped reads too. My main point is that someone provides a service for a few seconds every month to you for an accurate bill. Yes someone actually has to look at that thing every month. Why make it hard. Who cares what they think? right? Make a path and everything that grows around it is beautiful. A thoughtful garden and a meter in the front is a blessing. This may seem like a rant about bushes in front of meters,(it is) it just reflects my feelings about it. Some readers will skip a meter if they "cant read" or "Dont want to touch your bushes". I never skip because of bushes, but it still sucks having to stick my head in the bushes in the snow and what not. The idea of a general distribution of plants that wont grow to block the meter is good. Yes no spiny plants please. Thanks. Peace

Well, I would have to agree that if you are moving in two years, you don't want to spend a lot of time or energy on a lot of landscaping. The new owner may not like what you did, and end up ripping it all out and starting over to suit their own taste. That said, I think I'd like to see a small ornamental tree in the area about halfway between the lamp post and house to break up and disguise that large expanse of brick and change of siding material to the left of the big window. Maybe Amelanchier, something not too dense. I'd also like to see something softening the edge of the retaining wall. Low growing Cotoneaster has interesting branch patterns and colorful berries in the fall and winter. Microbiota could cover that bank and provide year round color, or one of the low growing Junipers or other evergreens. That bank is your biggest problem, IMO. Rhododendrons and Azaleas are nice, but once they finish blooming in spring, they will just be foliage. Adding in an Oakleaf Hydrangea for summer flowers and fall color might be nice off to the right side. Unless you go with a Meyer Lilac or a mildew resistant cultivar, you may end up with a mass of powdery mildew for the rest of the summer. Not very attractive. Making the planting area near the house a little deeper to leave some space for a couple of clumps of perennials that bloom at different times of the season will give you some extra interest. Add them in masses, not just one or two, so that when they bloom, you actually can see them.

Hi guys, I donÂt want to be a wet blanket here, but I thought I remembered hearing something about cocoa mulch once, but couldnÂt remember what it was, so I googled it, and of all the sites I looked at, I didnÂt find one that said it was safe for animals. Even the HersheyÂs site admits that it can be toxicÂthough they minimize it as much as possible since they clearly want to sell as much as they can. Here are links to some of the most credible sites I found. Snopes (fact or fiction) site: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cocoamulch.asp ASPCA: http://web.archive.org/web/20060415074908/www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc_publicationscocoa And the Hershey site, which sounds just like any other infomercial, and makes the point that since the mulch helps keep down weeds, you donÂt need to use chemicals to do it, so itÂs actually SAFER for your animalsÂbut then, down on the bottom it talks about cocoa mulch getting mold (which it says is not harmful to your plants), and recommends using a chemical to control the mold! So donÂt use chemicals for one thing, but DO use them for something else! Duh! The ASPCA doesnÂt mention plants!Âbut it does say the mold is also potentially toxic to animals! http://web.archive.org/web/20020127003124/http://www.hersheys.com/mulch/FAQ.htm I also noticed that all the "benefits" they talk about from using cocoa mulch are true of ANY of the organic/wood mulches. They suppress weeds, they save water, and they improve the soilÂlittle by little. I looked at some other sites too, and didnÂt run into anything that talked about wind resistance. Before spending much money to get a bunch of it, I sure would try just one bag first in a windy spot to see if thereÂs anything at all to the claims. I looked at cocoa mulch once several years ago and decided to not get it because it looked to me like it would be "sharp" to walk onÂwhich might explain why cats donÂt like to walk on itÂbut I was thinking more in terms of ME walking on itÂand working in it. IÂm sorry :-( Skybird

Henceforth, when taking pictures, take them square to the building face and let us see complete scenes of the landscaped area. This is usually easiest to do by slightly overlapping the pictures as you pan the camera, while remaining in one spot. (The left and right aiming shots will not be square to the building, but when put together with the center shot, it will all make sense.) Focus on one area of the yard at a time. It looks like the main thing you need is to install groundcover in the bare islands. Being sun, Blue Rug Juniper or similar would work. Everything looks fairly new so part of making it look better will be to have patience for it to grow. I presume you have irrigation. Feed the plants with balanced garden fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) now and midway through the summer per the mfg. recs.