Posted: March 2, 2021, 1:54 pm
Powerful landscaping offers benefits to your electric service and creates curb appeal
Spring is just around the corner. A popular way to welcome the season is tending to the yard, updating landscaping, and planting trees and shrubs. Healthy green scaping means homeowners can enjoy many benefits, such as cleaning the air, filtering stormwater, and saving up to 20% on their utility bills from strategically planted shade and wind-buffering vegetation.
A vibrant yard and wholesome landscape require careful planning. Here are some tips on how to plant the right vegetation in the right place:
- Any trees or shrubs being planted near utility poles require a 20-foot buffer and must be smaller. These include trees such as Venus hybrid dogwood, Lavalle hawthorn, or dwarf Sargent crabapple. They should be less than 25 feet tall when mature. If they grow to be any taller, they risk reaching the tree-pruning zone of PenLight’s vegetation program.
- When it comes to pruning, PenLight’s contracted crews trim and remove trees of specific height within a 10-foot radius of power lines on a three-year cycle. If a homeowner needs to remove a tree outside the 10-foot area, contact us and our certified arborist will help create a safe removal plan.
- If you have an electrical box or a cover over an underground electrical vault in your yard, maintain a clearance of 10 feet in front and 4 feet on the other three sides of the box. This area is well-suited for easygoing perennials such as Shasta daisies, dahlias, sword ferns, azaleas, or rhododendrons, especially the dwarf varieties.
- Taller trees—including Douglas fir, cedar, and maple —should be planted at least 50 feet from all utility equipment.
To learn more about powerful landscaping, visit the Arbor Day Foundation website.
