Your best, most practical hope is allowing the tree to grow. Eventually it will camouflage it better than anything else. For the lower portion of the pole, paint it or forget it.

Why wouldn't the electric company just prune the trees awkwardly at some point? Or even flat out remove them?

How much money are we talking to remove it?

They originally said $2500ish but now it's over $6000...which is a lot on a teacher salary. I guess it can be done at any time so maybe I'll live with it awhile and see how it goes?

Who owns the pole and lines?

Will you run power from the pole to your house underground?

If the foreground in the picture belongs to you, it looks like you have space to plant another tree in front of the pole (well in front and far enough from the wires) where it could hide the upper portion, and where the lower portion would blend in as another tree trunk.

I don't understand how it can be moved - and to where? Yours is not the only structure serviced by this pole. There is high voltage wire, a transformer to step it down, some kind of pick up for satellite or wifi, 2 guy wires to the ground and it appears another to likely another pole that is out of camera view. Are you perhaps talking about the cost to run your service underground? That would make sense in relation to the cost you mention but it doesn't move the pole.

What bothers you most about the pole? Is it while you're looking at your house from the street? Or that part of the yard? Or looking at it from one of the windows?

If it's the first. How often are you going to be across the street or out in the front yard staring at your house and looking at the pole? Are you worried it's going to make your house look bad to your neighbors? Why should you care what they think? I don't think it would bother possible buyers in the future especially once you get some mature landscaping around your house. Utility poles are everywhere, people are used to them..

If it's the 2nd reason, looking at it from inside your house, is that your usual view? How often will you be staring out those windows? Again mature landscaping will help. If your view is in the back, I wouldn't stress about it. Use your original $2500 you planned to move the pole for some nice plantings. Just don't put anything that grows tall under the wires. The power company WILL come trim the crap out of the them someday.

And no, don't paint the pole. We had to pay $5000 to get utility poles onto our property because it was beyond the 200 feet "freebie" and we didn't build a house within 5 years. So you could say they're "our poles" But the power company would have a fit if we tried to do anything to them. Everything upstream of the meter is theirs, everything downstream is the homeowners.

I tried to attach a picture, but of course it wouldn't attach. We have a magnolia bush planted at our pole. At least it hides the bottom part of the pole. You don't want anything that will grow into the lines. My father had a maple tree planted under his electric lines. The branches rubbed the lines and actually electrified the tree. The electric company said he was lucky no one got hurt and took down the tree. Poles are common here and are accepted as just part of the landscape.

Virgil Cater Fine Arts - Entergy

Yardvaark yes, underground to our house and a large tree may be the best idea! Thanks!

DLM2000-GW Originally they told me it would be best to move it to the other side of our driveway. Now the $6000 option is moving it over to the left a little...just out of the front yard. This pole brings everything from the main road to our property then connects to a smaller pole that enables us to run underground to the house we are currently living in. It really just affects our land and properties.

You know that any sort of landscaping which interferes with the pole, lines or service or maintenance will be removed by the utility company, right?

I wasn't suggesting planting trees under the lines or so close as to interfere. I assumed that the OP didn't want an ugly view from the house, and there's plenty of room in that yard to plant trees that would mask the view of the pole and never pose an interference problem. I live in the Pacific NW, and people commonly have trees, hedges, and shrubs all over the place. It does a lot to mask utility lines.

I was worried about future buyers...but unless something major changes in my life...I plan to live in the house long enough to grow something that should cover it well. Thanks for your help!

It could be worse:

For sure! Thanks for the perspective! But surely the company needed to move that? They can't even get to their driveway!

I’m s historic preservationist who believes these wooden utility poles will be mourned when they’re gone. Which may be sooner than you think. Look at some Hopper paintings and other American school artists and learn to love the look.

Well that's an interesting perspective as well. I love those little ground transformer boxes myself but maybe I can learn to love this pole just as much.

I grew up in NYC, we have no utility poles, everything is underground. Once I moved out, I remember very distinctly driving down a road and being completely horrified at how ugly these poles were. And they were EVERYWHERE! Many years later, I still hate them.

I live in a neighborhood with no utility poles (thankfully!). One thing to consider is the increased likelihood of a power outage when the lines are exposed. We get a lot of storms and people in our area frequently lose power, but those in neighborhoods like mine with underground lines, very rarely lose power.

If the cost to move it and run lines underground is prohibitive, then I would opt for beautifying my landscaping to distract from the pole. That’s probably the most reasonable approach, good luck!

I'd go down to county office lodge a complaint and raise hell. Maybe they can move it?

We have always had poles. We don't even notice them. Maybe a couple times a year our electric goes out for a few hours. Mostly due to wet snow bringing down a tree or limb or a drunk running into the pole. There is a few neighborhoods with under ground lines, but their electricity comes from the poles on the main roads. So theirs out just the same as everyone else. Instead of a ugly pole on the property line they have a ugly green box sitting in their front yard.

That looks good!

I don't think it would be hard to put this more or less out of sight and out of mind.

I am really surprised no one's mentioned this yet.

Virgil Carter and Mark Bischak -- 2 great pictures in one discussion!

I assume this pole belongs to a utility company since it's not on your property. If so, you cannot plant a vine to grow on it, or trees to cover it. It would interfere with the lines being serviced and put a lineman in danger . The utility company will remove whatever you plant there. My advice to you is to stop obsessing about it and just enjoy your lovely new home.

"... you cannot plant a vine to grow on it ... or trees to cover it."

One does not plant a tree smack adjacent to the pole, but a distance away, strategically placing it to screen the upper portion of the pole from a key viewpoint. The tree would not screen the pole from every viewpoint.

Woodrose - It is our property. Utility companies in different states must have different ways of doing things. When we first bought the property we actually removed several bushes and stones that the previous owners had placed there to make it look better...since we were planning to move it. Still sound advice to stop obsessing, though!

We were waiting for you, Mark. ;-)

Mark - we have a pole on our property (2 actually) and now I know how to decorate it!! Already have the Santa for Christmas!

Just this week, the roads department couldn't/wouldn't wait for the power company to move their pole, so...

We planted forsythia around the base of ours. The wires go underground from this spot. It doesn’t hide the pole, of course, but it brings the eye down.