Garden to hide hydrant

[TaraFlint]

Hi - this is my very first post! I am trying to find photos of gardens that hide a fire hydrant. I'd like the front of the hydrant to be accessible - obviously! But want to build a garden around the back of it to hide it while viewing from my living room. The front yard gets full sun. And I will need something evergreen (or full leaves all year) to block the view in the winter months. Any ideas out there? Thanks, Tara

[Eeyore]

You'll need to check the requirements for set back in your municipality but you could but up a lattice screen and have some climbers on it, or perhaps something like a globe cedar that would be big enough to hide it from view.

[TaraFlint]

thanks so much - i'll look into it!

[earwig]

Tara, what zone are you? That would help with giving some ideas of plants that could hide it.

[Gwen J]

There are a couple of pictures in Liz Primeau's book Front Yard Gardens: Growing More Than Grass, and I saw several more with a quick search in Google Images.

The ones I liked the best did not really try to hide the hydrant, but did colour-coordinate with it. In a couple of cases the results looked like gardens with funky sculptures.

I'm not sure I would actually want to hide a fire hydrant... if it were my house the firefighters were trying to save I wouldn't want them to have to spend too long looking for the hydrant!

I do wonder, though, why the guy who built my house didn't put the hydro meter, the gas meter and the air conditioner all beside each other to make 'em easier to hide.

G.

[TaraFlint]

Hi Betty - well I always thought I was a zone 5 but I just double checked the map and it looks like it might be 6a. I am in the beach area in Toronto if anyone wants to clarify that for me. This is my first house and first garden so I am learning as I go.

Thanks for the references Gwen. And just to clarify - I do not want to block the hydrant at all from the front curbside. I just want to plant some kind of cover on my lawn that will block the view of the hydrant from my front windows. I will contact the city today to see how far back the plants have to be. I will lose some lawn but the barrier will hide the hydrant and also create some kind of "fence" so my kids don't go running around the area.

Thanks everyone!
Tara

[earwig]

That's a good zone. It depends on what you have there for what you are going to add. If you already have a garden bed there I would hesitate to add something like a little cedar or a spruce as they like to suck up all the water and nourishment from other plants. Check out boxwood, they don't grow too big and if do, easily pruned and look nice all year round. A holly shrub is another option.

Myself, I like ornamental grass but it starts looking quite ratty by February. Good luck on your hunt.