How to Design a Plant Screen

In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook and landscape architect Tom Wirth choose plants for a plant screen.

Steps:
1. Buy an assortment of at least four different native plants to create the screen.
2. Build up a mound of dirt in front of the unsightly utility boxes from a 60/40 mix of topsoil and compost.
3. Arrange the plants in a random, natural pattern; don’t set them in a straight line.
4. Before digging the plant holes, call the utility company and ask them to mark the locations of any buried electrical, gas or water lines.
5. After planting, spread 2 to 3 inches of bark mulch over the entire area.
6. Water the plants once a day for two weeks, and then every other day for the next two weeks.