Hide A Utility Box With 7 Landscaping Ideas That Won’t Be Removed

There are plenty of landscaping ideas you can draw on to hide or cover utility boxes around your house or property. Depending on it’s location, you can use one or multiple of the options we’ll explore below.

The best way to hide a utility box in your yard is to utilise mobile or temporary covers – either around the whole unit, or one access area. Some approaches you can consider include:

1. Using Potted Plants
2. A Trellis, Screen or Fence
3. Combination Pot (or Container) & Trellis
4. A Mobile Trellis, Screen or Fence
5. Specially Designed Garden Bed
6. Combine These Ideas
7. Cheap Versions Of The Above – That You Don’t Mind Being Removed

These options can easily cover a utility box in your yard, but there is one very important thing you need to be aware of before you begin.

Check With The Utility Provider First

You should always check the utility box to see if it has any warnings or notices written on it. Some utilities may be access to electrical transformers, for cable companies, or gas or water meters.

You want to find information about minimum offset distances (how far away something should be placed from it) and if it has any cables or wires travelling underground – to or from the box. The land above these wires or cables may be shown as an easement on your house/title plan.

If none of this information is available, you should call the company or owner responsible for the utility box. Find out the information above, especially if it has underground wires etc. that you should be aware of.

In the event of an emergency, anything too close to the box front or sides is likely to be ripped out and probably ruined. Some boxes also need a minimum offset distance – with nothing in that space – to ensure they have suitable airflow during hot periods.

For this reason, having something mobile means you can accommodate the providers needs while still hiding the utility from site.

1. Using Potted Plants To Hide Utility Boxes

Plants are a simple and effective way to hide a utility box. Rather than plant them directly into the ground – where they stand a chance of being destroyed – you might be able to plant in pots or containers instead.

There are a few positives to this approach:

1. You can move the pots if service providers need access for routine maintenance or emergencies (make sure you have a trolley stored nearby to help move them quickly)
2. You don’t have to deal with any concerns digging or planting in a dangerous area
3. You are less likely to have plants or items damaged or destroyed should service providers need access
4. You can place gravel, mulch or another material around the utility box, reducing maintenance costs and providing a reasonable surface for the pots to sit on

Although this image doesn’t show pots around a utility box, it’s not difficult to imagine these laid out around one, perhaps on gravel or mulch. These would be difficult to move without assistance – an extra person or trolley.

There is one potential negative, which is people may steal the smaller or easier to take pots.

A solution may be to use a thin metal rope/chain and pass it through all your pots – through some drainage holes in the base, or added loops. Lock the chain around a sunken or heavy anchor point that’s far away from the utility box, and bury most of it beneath the gravel or mulch.

As long as you can quickly untangle or remove it if you need to move some pots it should help prevent theft while allowing mobility. Or, just get really heavy pots and plants that are difficult for passers by to remove.

2. Screen The Utility Box With A Trellis, Screen Or Fence

Similar to pots or containers above, you could place a trellis, screen or fence around the utility unit.

If they are fixed, you’ll need to ensure they are set a safe distance back. Be aware of the footing placement for any uprights to make sure they are clear of potential underground wires.

This example hides some other house utilities, but the concept is the same. A nice lattice screen can form a good backdrop for a garden bed – or something you just add climbers to.

The benefit of using a man-made screen is you can immediately build it to an appropriate height rather than wait years for plants to grow and provide coverage. If you do like this aesthetic, I’d suggest having a larger offset around your utility box than the example above.

3. Combine A Pot (or Container) & Trellis For Height & Mobility To Hide The Utility Box

If you want to have something mobile AND tall, you could have a pot or container with a trellis component.

A futuristic example, but you could have a mobile pot with a trellis (maybe smaller than this one). A few of these, with a lower total height, could easily hide your utility box.

This could be a purpose built item, or perhaps just adding a trellis to a normal pot to grow some climbers or taller plants against. Be careful to not create a “wind trap” set up where the container could blow over in large gusts of wind. The taller the trellis, the heavier the base will probably need to be.

Like with the pots, you want to make sure you can move them if needed. Or the service provider can move them and not break them. So this might require a little bit of figuring out to ensure it provides enough cover while being light enough to move (with two people, or a trolley).

Also make sure the pots/containers are secure in your yard and not likely to be stolen. The same approach we looked at above – anchor point and chain – may work here as well.

4. Hide A Utility With A Mobile Trellis, Screen or Fence

Focusing on our mobile theme, you could use fences, trellises or screens on casters or wheels – instead of setting them into the ground.

Depending on how they’re made, they may not suit your needs. But perhaps if they’re a relatively small height they could work quite well.

A semi-movable lattice screen built by Gary J Wood. You could add small planter boxes at the base to support climbers if you wanted more colour.

You could opt for lockable wheels, or chain them to anchor points if theft is a concern. Or make them wide enough to be easy to roll, but difficult to pick up and take away.

As I said, you can add planter boxes along the base to support climbers if you like to add colour. This whole approach should be easy enough for you or any service providers to move, while providing a good backdrop to any part of your yard.

5. Create A Specially Designed Garden Bed Around The Utility Box

If you are looking to plant a permanent garden around the utility box, provided you leave enough room around the box, it should be manageable. As mentioned, be aware of any potential underground cables or wires travelling from or to the utility box.

If you can, avoid planting trees. Their wide and deep root systems can crack, strangle or break protective elements around wiring, not to mention the wires/cables themselves.

If you do want to include trees, your best bet may be to try and limit the size of the rootball – the area the roots can spread to. You could widen the hole you place the tree in and line it with a root barrier mesh/layer. This will work to restrict the spread of the roots, thereby limiting the size and spread of the trees.

I’d suggest leaving the floor/base free, so the roots are not completely enclosed, but you do want to ensure the surface roots won’t spread too far. Be sure to check any potential plantings – trees or otherwise – with a local expert to find something suitable.

Alternative options could be shrubs and grasses. They tend to have shallower root systems. You should still avoid planting these above underground wiring – not just for safety, but because they may need to be accessed at some point. And, as we know, anything that needs to be moved by a service provider is likely to be destroyed.

Ornamental grasses work well because you can plant in bunches and they look good massed. They tend to grow large enough to partially or mostly cover it, and can be easily cut down for access – if you’re given a chance. And they’ll grow back relatively quickly.

I think a garden bed is the least versatile option we’ve explored, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work if you position things carefully and accept the possibility your plants may be destroyed or removed if needed.

6. Combine These Ideas To Cover Your Utility Box In A More Creative Way

There is no reason you need to stick to only one of the ideas above. You can try to combine these different techniques and approaches, giving you a mix of mobility, safety and “coverability”.

I’ve mentioned before that the best way to effectively hide something is to make your solution – what you are doing to cover it – blend into the surrounding garden.

This is one interesting way to hide a utility box. The wagon covering the box is a great idea. It’s an interesting focal point and can support more greenery. All of this, however, is assuming it can move.

You can take many of the ideas above and stretch them beyond the immediate utility box area, so they expand into other parts of the yard.

That way your solution – be it pots, fences, mobile elements etc. – don’t stand out either. They flow into the rest of the garden bed, or lawn, or whatever else sits in the space.

7. Cheap Versions Of These Ideas That Are More “Temporary” Around Your Utility Box

This post is mainly about hiding your utility box with things that are less likely to be removed by a service provider should they need access to it. But, in reality, you could reduce your costs and design challenges simply by using items you’re OK with being removed or destroyed.

If you’re limited with space, or don’t want to go to a huge amount of effort for the low probability that something may happen, opt to plant/place/cover/surround etc. the utility box with a cheaper collection of the ideas we’ve explored above.

You may even feel comfortable encroaching on some of the offset zone (although I wouldn’t recommend this). If you accept that these elements and materials are temporary rather than permanent, then you can be a bit more liberal in how you place things around the utility.

Just remember you may come home one day to find things torn up, cut down, smashed or otherwise broken because a provider needed to access the box in an emergency. Once it’s taken care of, you’ll need to start all over – planting, building, placing or whatever you did.