Question
Our gas meter is on the front of our west-facing house that gets no shade, and I think the reflected heat is too much for the adjacent plants.  I have a 'DeGroot's Spire' arborvitae and a siberian catmint that are getting absolutely fried.  Extra water seems to help but ultimately I'm wondering if I could shield or wrap the meter with some kind of heat-absorbing material.  Would that be a reasonable or even possible solution, and if so, how would I go about doing it?  It's a prominent and rather formal foundation bed with another arborvitae planted on the opposite side, so I really don't want to replace it (the arb) with something else or leave it bare.  Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Dianne

Answer
Although reflected heat is a real physical characteristic of various materials, it would be considerably difficult for a small item like a gas meter to be producing enough heat to fry a large plant. More than likely, if it is reflected heat, it is probably the wall of the house. In GA, unless your house was made of reflective tin or something I would tend not to suspect this phenomena. I have seen trees an all sorts of plants directly adjacent to very reflective surfaces and they still do fine. You can certainly try wrapping your gas meter with a blanket or something but if there was to be a favorable change in the plant condition following that action, I would still be suspicious of causes other than the gas meter.

PS. I would consider shifting the plants a few feet further from the walls of your house as a more viable solution.


sean j murphy