Septic and electric. You need access to both. What does your HOA allow?

My HOA said to submit a plan with a drawing for review, they didn't say yes or no :-/

This looks like a new neighborhood. The utilities connections setup at the front of house close to sidewalk is pretty common in many developments. Whatever you do to camoflauge or obscure, remember that if the utility needs access to their hookup they won’t carefully remove the obstacles to it - all will be unceremoniously ripped out. That said, have you looked around your neighborhood to see what other neighbors have done to dress up the space around their utility hookups?

No one else has, but no one else put in culverts & covered up the drainage ditches in their front yards but the HOA approved my request. I think maybe I'm the first one to try :-)

My first thought might be to do a corner garden with a lot of grasses. What's the yellow stick? A permanent feature or not?

The yellow stick can come out now that I got my fence and my AT&T underground internet cable has been buried in the yard. I've been pulling flags & markers up all over the place lol!

Jennifer - Have you talked with your neighbor who shares these utility hookups in their yard? Their buy in & participation would make for a much more successful outcome all around. I ask because I have a similar situation in my front yard & the tall phone box connection for neighborhood straddles our property lines. We also have our water meter & hookups right in front of the phone box. We don’t have an HOA to deal with but our neighborhood has maintained its well kept appearance - peer pressure & expectations I think! My neighbor & I, who both like gardening, came up with a planting plan which we matched on both sides of utilities. We chose hardy but not invasive rooted plants that are evergreen. We chose plants that wouldn’t be hard or costly to replace if we had to. We added succulent ground cover that’s shallow rooted. If either you or your neighbor likes garden design it’d be a fun shared & mutually beneficial project & might set a trend for your neighborhood if other yards have the same challenge.

I bet it looks so nice! I definitely don't know anything about garden design lol but maybe my neighbor does. The company who cuts my grass quoted $650 to make a little garden on my side with grasses & azaleas but my mom said that's high for a small garden.

Jennifer - your mom is spot on! That's way too much especially if it's for only your side of the utilities & not both sides. The yard maintenance company has to pay their high labor costs & they do have a markup on plant material they buy at contractor rates & install. My neighbor & I spent @ $100 or less each. We each already had grass & an inground irrigation system. First thing I would do is approach your neighbor with your great plan.Get their buy in & forge a new / better good neighbor relationship with this step showing what a considerate neighbor you are! Second, drive or walk around other neighborhoods to see similar installs of plantings around utilites & snap pics of those that appeal. Visit local nurseries with pictures of your yard & of others you liked & get recommendations from them. Submit plan to HOA for certain approval! Then, early spring when great planting time arrives, you're good to go!

I will, thank you so much!!!

I'd look for corner garden designs or designs with mailboxes. Make an idea book. You can Google corner gardens, too. That said, one azalea and some low-growing grasses would be pretty.

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Those are so pretty thank you Ms Sigrid!!!

ps. Where are you located? That makes a huge difference when it comes to suggesting plants! I am in Northern Virginia(zone 7) and planted several native rhododendrons (Rhododendron maximum) last year. They are evergreen, have beautiful flowers in late spring, and are in part shade. They are now three or more feet high (two are growing more quickly than the others). Getting natives to your particular county is important.

Ugh I didn't put the mulch around the tree, the builder put that ugly red mulch everywhere! I'll go dig him out today. I'm north of New Orleans, where it can down to 20s & 30s in the winter but it's upper 90s all Summer. It's hard to find plants that like the heat but won't die when it freezes :-/