Home Lightpost Landscaping Ideas

Light posts show visitors where your driveway is, illuminate your address or provide lighting for pedestrians walking by. Occasionally a light post by the street will serve as a rest stop for passing dogs. Most light posts aren't very attractive. Make yours blend in with landscaping and flowers.

Hanging Baskets

During spring, summer and fall brighten up that post with a hanging basket filled with live flowers and plants. Substitute evergreens in the winter. Hanging baskets dry out faster than plants in the ground so you may have to water more often. If your landscaping is on an irrigation system, run a water tube from the system to the basket. Spray paint the tube to match the color of the light post so it's not obvious. Good flowers are those that like sun and that trail. Try pansies, lobelia, dwarf zinnias, bacopa, candytuft and trailing geraniums.

Vines Growing Up

Cover the post with flowers and leaves by growing plants up the post. You may need to cover the post by wrapping a layer of chicken wire around it first to give the plants something to hold onto as they climb up. Or try a plant that wraps itself around the post like morning glories, honeysuckle or jasmine. Obviously cut the vines back if they start blocking the light.

Raised Bed

Avoid the problem of dogs relieving themselves on your lamp post by building a raised bed around it. Scrub the post with a product that gets rid of odor. Build a planter with stacked cement blocks, interlocking bricks or wooden posts pounded into the ground. Spray the planter with a product that keeps dogs away from it. Once they break the habit and there isn't any scent, they probably will stop marking. Fill the planter with annuals. Stock and snapdragons are good for spring. Sweet alyssum and marigolds with dwarf cosmos are nice for summer. Fall calls for chrysanthemums and asters.

Roses

Roses have several benefits. They have thorns which keeps dogs away from them. They bloom profusely and stay green when not in bloom. Choose an easy-to-grow variety for your hardiness zone. Roses struggle in zones below 5. Amend the soil well before planting. Plant two or three different colors around the post. Try red, pink and purple roses or orange, yellow and white. If you have more than one lamp post, plant the same color scheme around each one for a coordinated landscaping look.