There are a lot of ways to beautify a bare garden fence and one of them is to plant plants along the fence. There are a variety of plant species that you can use for this purpose and will even delight you with beautiful flowers. Beautify the boring garden fence, regardless of whether it is made of wood, plastic or metal, and in this way enhance your outdoor area. What can you plant on the garden fence?
How to green the fence
A planted area in front of the garden or privacy fence looks much nicer. But what are your options and what should you consider?
Designing a fence with plants – which ones are suitable?
In principle, anything that grows tall is ideally suited to protect itself from thefence to be planted. The garden fence then forms a great background so that both elements (fence and flowers) complement each other perfectly. You can choose the following if you want to plant your garden fence:
- Anyclimbing plantsand both annual and perennial plants, if necessary with climbing aid. Think carefully in advance about the location conditions required by each plant and whether you can guarantee these. For example, a tall privacy fence casts more shadows than a low picket fence, which could affect plant growth. There are climbers (hold on with special shoots or petioles), twiners (the shoots themselves twine), self-climbers (have attachment roots and twine) and spreading ones (heavy shoots, often with thorns or spines) that you can choose from.
- grasses
- Perennials
- Shrubs
- or of course combinations of several plant species
Of course, one or two potted plants can also be placed in front of the fence.
Planting a garden fence – The type of fence is also important when it comes to tendrils
Diebeautiful climbing rosewould eventually become too heavy for a chain link fence, while climbing plants are happy with such mesh and cannot grow up a smooth fence. Accordingly, the type of fence also plays a role when you choose plants.
- It is best to plant wire mesh with vines and twiners (clematis, morning glories, sweet peas, for example).
- A picket fence or picket fence as well as the double rod mesh fence is stable enough to contain roses,Wild wineor to support other more lush plants, but can also be decorated with the more delicate varieties already mentioned.
- Densely overgrown wooden fences dry more slowly after rain, dew, etc. and can therefore weather more quickly than free-standing ones. Therefore, with this material, it is a better idea to choose annual varieties so that the wood can ventilate and dry the plant material after it dies.
- Smooth plastic fences are usually unsuitable for the independent growth of climbing plants. If you decide to go for one, we recommend a trellis in front of the fence.
Garden design along the fence – do you have to keep a distance?
When planting your garden fence, also consider the expected size. It is best to plant plant species that could protrude over the garden fence at a slightly greater distance from the fence, because anything that is visible to the neighbor can be cut away. Also remember that climbing plants are not allowed if the fence belongs to the neighbor.
Planting a garden fence – A few suggestions depending on the type of fence
No matter what fence, free-standing ones are always suitable as long as they are not too impressive. Bothclimbing varietiesHowever, there are a few things to consider.
Chain link fence
A type of fence that is cheap and quick to set up, but doesn't exactly score points in terms of appearance... You can beautify this garden fence in the following ways:
- Clematis
- Ivy (but with regular pruning, otherwise too heavy in the long run)
- honeysuckle
- Bell vine
- Morning glory
- Wicken
Instead, you can plant a less stable chain link fence by choosing free-standing plants. For example, grasses, perennials or shrubs are suitable for planting in front of the fence.
Double rod mesh fence with climbing flowers of various kinds
In principle, this type of fence offers the same practical grids as the chain link fence, which is perfect for climbing plants. The advantage here is its nicer appearance and the fact that it is significantly more stable, so that stronger plant species are also suitable. Thanks to its open optics, it also doesn't absorb any light from plants growing in front of it. However, these fences are usually quite low, so you should not choose climbing plants that grow too high.
- honeysuckle
- Nasturtium
- Climbing hydrangea
- Climbing roses
- Black-eyed Susan
- Wild Wine
You can choose between annual and perennial as well as evergreen specimens.
Planting a wooden fence
The main goal of a wooden fence is, above all, to create a natural atmosphere. You can even increase this by planting the garden fence. However, a lot of moisture collects between the plant and the fence, which absorbs the material and leads to rotten wood more quickly. Therefore, choose annual plant species that wither and die in the fall so that the wood can breathe until the next season. In addition, if one day you have to replace the fence, it would be a shame if you had to remove a perennial plant that you have cared for so long.
However, you should not consider the use of annual specimens as a disadvantage. Instead, you have the opportunity to try out new varieties and arrangements every year – the key word is “variety”. Here are some suitable climbing and free-standing plants such as perennials, grasses and shrubs that you can scatter along the fence.
- Miscanthus
- Dahlias
- Fragrant sweet pea
- sweet pea
- Bluebells
- Nasturtium
- Catnip
- Pampasgras
- Magnificent meadow rue
- Morning glory
- Rittersporn
- Sunflowers
- Stockrose
Plant plastic garden fence
Plastic is primarily used for taller privacy fences, which allow for taller solitary and climbing plants due to their height, but also cast a larger shadow that disturbs sun-loving plants. They have a slippery surface that makes life difficult for climbers. That's why additional climbing aid is needed here. It doesn't matter whether it's made of metal, wood, wire or rope. And then you can plant pretty much anything, as long as the site conditions are right.
- Bush mallows
- Bamboo
- Noble lilac
- Feuerdorn
- Tall pipe grass
- Hortensie
- Coneflower
- Giant miscanthus
- Rittersporn
- Rhododendron
- Switchgrass
