Plant recommendations - 4ft+ tall flowers

The gas company came by today and replaced my not-working meter... so long $23/month heat bills *sob*

My concern is this: the tech got creative and now my meter tops out at 4' high. I measured. Apparently the shortest nipples he had were 12" long... never mind the old 3" nipple and coupling he left on my lawn. Anyway! It's on the side of my house by a street (corner lot) and extremely visible.... in fact, it looks like heck. So I'm looking for some ideas on what I can plant behind it/around it to sort of disguise it without obscuring the spot techs need to be able to read.

Currently, the front of the house has a couple rose bushes and some catmint - I have plans for adding foxgloves and larkspur to the mix this spring (I bought the house last summer). The meter is located around the porch from the front, on the side I prepped a few months ago for planting veggies.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I could plant that would sort of blend in with what I already have, and help draw the eye away from my gas meter on stilts? Pale yellow house, and the (current/planned) flowers are pink, yellow and blue. Western side of the house, heavy clay soil, zone 5/6 great lakes (zone varies depending on what map you look at but 6 is probably more accurate). Both annuals and perennial options would work.

I've searched for tall annuals, and while I really like Love-Lies-Bleeding - its so striking - I'm not fussy about the color.... if only the flowers were a few shades lighter!

Hello again, kai,

I want to add some explanation about the pictures I post. As you may know, this forum downsizes over-sized pictures to only 708 pixels wide, but I frequently upload pictures that are 1000 pixels wide, knowing that DG will downsize them to 708 pixels. But, as they say on television infomercials, "But wait, there is more."

To get that "more", right-click on the 708-wide picture and choose "View Image" at the top of the popup menu that appears. A larger picture appears. But wait, there is more. Click your F11 key and the picture goes "full screen".

To get back, click F11 again, and click the Back Arrow on your Browser and you are back at the 708-pixel version, where you can click "Back to post".

That technique can maximize your enjoyment of pictures on Dave's Garden. Just takes a few clicks. A recent picture of one of my yellow zinnias is included.

ZM

Thank you, Zen_Man! I didn't know you could look at images "full screen" that easily. Really good to know.

Hi Carrie,

I suspect a lot of Dave's Garden users don't know that "trick". I left a message in another forum suggesting that the technique be publicized (by Dave's Garden) along with other basic navigation information for visitors and new users.

ZM

Thanks, I didn't realize zinnia varieties could be that large! I bought a couple flats of sickly looking ones from Lowe's last summer (they didn't have much to choose from in June), and was impressed with how quickly they perked up and how great they looked well into the fall regardless of where I planted them (even if I hated the fact that they were orange lol). Pretty and bombproof little plants!

I had planned on grabbing more of the smaller ones next year to plug "holes", so I'll definitely keep a lookout for Benary's Giants!

Hi kai,

You might want to grow your Benary's Giants from seeds. Stokes Seeds sells both in the US and in Canada. I have bought a lot of seeds from them in the past, and undoubtedly will buy more from them in the future. I buy from several seed companies, but Stokes Seeds is one of my favorites. Here is their Canadian offering of Benary's Giants seeds.

http://www.stokeseeds.com/category.aspx?CategoryID=542

Zinnias come up in only a few days from seeds, and you can plant their seeds outdoors after the danger of frost is past and the soil has warmed up a bit. They tend to "catch up" with the zinnias that were bought as plants and set out, partly because transplanting can "shock" the plant some. And the seeds can cost less.

I do a lot of cross pollinating of my zinnias, making hybrids between hybrids, and a lot of my zinnias have some Stokes Seeds zinnia "blood" in them. I have many zinnias that are wholly different from what is available in commercial seed packets. I am attaching a few pictures to substantiate that claim. All of those represent new zinnia strains that are "in progress".

ZM

Canna lilies and hollyhock are both fairly tall perennials. Dahlias are tall (and absolutely beautiful), but may not obscure very much except at the top, and you'd probably have to attach them to stakes to keep them upright. Sunflowers are usually really tall, but I think there are some smaller varieties. Ginger is tall with fragrant flowers. You could also try a trellis with a vine, maybe wisteria or jasmine.

All that said, I'm remembering my garden from southern Mississippi, so I'm not sure how much of it with grow in Canada. :/

There are many varieties and heights of sunflowers, and my guess is that there are sunflower varieties that would work.

ZM

Hi kai55- Could we have a photo? This would help a lot with advice.
Hmm, hot, baking afternoon sun, clay, 4 feet tall,coordinates with pink yellow and blue, and not spiny, and rugged so a meter-reader can get there. How about Caryopteris. I have a cultivar called 'Blue Balloon' that does great in clay. 'Dark Knight' did not reliably come back. The only care I give it is whacking it off at about 6" every spring.

ZM-
For me on my computer, there is one other step to view the photo full size:
The very first thing I have to do is LEFT-click on the thumbnail, to get it in it's separate window, THEN I do the right-click and F11. If I just right click on the thumbnail, I get a new thumbnail, also tiny! So maybe it is the mouse type one has?

Oh kai- I am not sure of your hardiness zone, Caryopteris is supposedly hardy to Zone 5. You might want to update your profile so people can see your zone, some of Ontario is colder than that.

Hi Pistil,

" For me on my computer, there is one other step to view the photo full size:
The very first thing I have to do is LEFT-click on the thumbnail, to get it in it's separate window, THEN I do the right-click and F11. If I just right click on the thumbnail, I get a new thumbnail, also tiny! So maybe it is the mouse type one has? "

There may have been some confusion, because my "instructions" applied to after you had left clicked the thumbnail to get the standard 708-pixel DG photo display. I will repeat the instructions again, for clarity, and leaving out the "But wait, there is more" stuff.

Dave's Garden downsizes over-sized pictures to only 708 pixels wide, but DG actually stores larger uploaded pictures, and there is a simple technique for viewing a 708-pixel picture in its larger size.

So, first you left-click the thumbnail to view a "standard" Dave's Garden picture. If the uploaded picture was 708 pixels wide or less, you will see it at its uploaded size and there is no larger size to view.

But, if the uploaded picture was larger than 708 pixels wide, Dave's Garden will store a larger size, but downsize it to 708 pixels wide for the view that you see.

In order to view that larger version, right-click on the 708-wide picture and choose "View Image" at the top of the popup menu that appears. A larger picture appears. Then, click your F11 key and the picture gets larger still, and expands to "full screen".

To get back, click F11 again, and click the Back Arrow on your Browser and you are back at the 708-pixel version, where you can click "Back to post" or "Next Photo" or "Previous Photo".

That technique can maximize your enjoyment of larger sized pictures on Dave's Garden. And it takes just a few clicks. If you have left-clicked a thumbnail and are viewing the picture and you are uncertain whether you should try to view it larger, don't fret, just go ahead and right-click to apply the technique. It will show you the picture at its stored size, whether it was small or large.

If you have questions or need clarification over any of that, just ask. I frequently upload 1000-pixel pictures because that is a "standard size" that I store on my computer. You can practice the technique I just gave on the 5 pictures that I posted above.

ZM