Three Landscaping Tips for Disguising Ugly Features

We all love to think of our back yards as our refuge, and for the most part they do the trick. But sometimes things shift in the neighborhood around us that create an eyesore that we would really rather ignore as we kick back in our hammock or invite friends for a bar-b-q in the backyard. Some elements such as a big high-rise apartment building nearby are hard to disguise.

But others, such as those ugly bolted steel tanks that sprang up behind you in an industrial park can be removed from your line of sight with a bit of ingenuity and some strategic greenery. If you are struggling with a sudden arrival of something that is ugly and certainly not planned for near your backyard oasis, take heed. Here are a few easy ideas that just may turn the tide for you.

Hiding the Neighborhood Ugly

If what you need to hide is just beyond your own borders, you will need some special planning to make that ugly view either go away or just not show up in your vision. For those with high fences, it might be as simple a thing as adding some greenery to give extra height to that fence. A line of trees, bushes that don’t stop at just five feet or even some trained vines can do the trick nicely. But sometimes this can look almost as ugly as the thing you are trying to hide. It can leave you feeling like a boxed in prisoner of your own back yard, with tall green surrounding you.

When you are faced with this kind of problem, generally because of how small that backyard is, then the solution might be to create a small stepping garden to break up the look. Start with a low bed of flowers, add behind it add some mid-sized bushes and plant your disguising trees in between and at the back. This will break up the view and make it feel more natural.

Disguising Ugly Downspouts

While we know that we need those downspouts to keep the rain that runs off the roof from inundating our yard, they are ugly to see. But you don’t have to look at them or at least you don’t have to be so aware of them. There are a few things you can do such as painting them to blend in with the background of the house or training a creeper that is pretty to run around the side of them.

If neither of these options seems to work for you, why not try replacing them with a rain chain and maybe a rain barrel at the end? You can even work them into the décor of the backyard by choosing the right material for the rain chain.

Fooling the Eye

Sometimes there is something ugly in your yard that no amount of gardening can hide. When that happens, the smart thing is to attract the eye with another element it would rather look at then that ugly thing. This can be a water feature such as a waterfall that sits on the opposite corner of what you are trying to avoid. It might be done by making the seating face away from it. Just give yourself something else to look at and it will improve your back yard considerably.