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Make Your Fence Your Folly

March 15, 2010 By 4 Comments

A fence can be the perfect accent to a garden.  Make your Fence Your Folly in the April 2010 issue of Carolina Gardener Magazine just may inspire you.

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Make Your Fence Your Folly

INTRODUCTION

Fences can convey feelings. Seeing fences along a country road conjures up comfort from a space that is open and yet so well contained.

At home, the materials for fence selection should complement your house style.  A painted picket fence adds charm to a clapboard home painted the same color.  A wrought iron fence adds an air of formality to your formal style.  Similarly, Craftsman style homes should have a similar style fence or the two will not relate to each other.

Warm and welcoming, fences surrounding the property tie the home and garden together making the area from the front door to the fence an extension of the ground floor. The fence, acting as a barrier between your home and the hustle and bustle of daily life, provides you with privacy and protection; but fences can be so much more.  A fence can also serve as your folly.

FRONT OF FENCE FOLLY

A classic use of a fence is at the edge of the curb or sidewalk.  First check with your city or country for restrictions on fence height and sighting.

Whether you have an existing fence or plan to install a fence in the future, consider planting a garden as well.  A fence is the perfect folly to any garden.  An opportunity not to be missed.  Fences become accents in garden designs; a backdrop for garden beds.

Setting the fence back from the curb or street allows for an area to be planted.  Adding a gate allows the visitor an opportunity to pause and admire the garden as they open the garden gate for their passage through.

PLANING AND PLANTING

Consider the depth of your front-of-fence garden.  It could be narrow; a mere six inches, with just a fluff of greenery such as Liriope to soften the edge or the bed could be 3 – 4 feet deep for a full scale garden.  The bed shouldn’t be too deep since garden maintenance will need to be reached from just one side.

Adding plants for year round interest needs to be considered.  After all, your folly will be a focal point as well.  Layering with trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, grasses, bulbs and vines; a mix of herbaceous and evergreen plantings, gives the design enough variety to maintain interest year round.

Here are some examples of fences planted to add year round color, form, and texture.  Each design is a traffic stopper and a delight for anyone walking by.


WHITE PICKET FENCE WRAPS THIS SOUTHERN HOME

St. Mary'sRaleighYoest (5)The fence surrounding this southern house provides the perfect accent for the home and garden.  Planted with Verbena, ornamental grass, iris, veronica, sage, climbing rose, daylilies and ginger; the garden waxes and wanes throughout the year.

SIMPLE POST AND BOARD DESIGN

ParksNorfolkYoest (39)Les Parks garden, in Norfolk, Virginia, is a good example of how a small accent fence can make a big statement in a garden design.  The fence wraps around the corner lot of the Parks’ home with the gardens flowing seamlessly in front of and behind the fence. This small, yet vital definition, makes the garden pop.  Les has planted his garden with ‘Fenway Park’ Boston ivy, Chocolate mimosa, daylilies, dwarf Hinoki cypress, Degroot’s spire arborvitae, Rose Glow Barberry, Sunshine abelia, black and blue salvia, Jerusalem sage, green spire euonymus, cut-leaf sumac, Pizazz loropetalum, and amsonia.


NATURAL FENCE ON SIDE PROPERTY NEXT TO SIDEWALK

IMG_1211Those passing by this side yard will enjoy a fence planting created with trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals.  Each season has interest as the plantings change.  Planted with Crape Myrtle, gingers, daylilies, Helianthus, vinca, mondo grass, and azalea.


AN INSIDE FENCE PLANTING SURROUNDING A POOL

WernerRaleighYoest (27)Denny and Georgina Werner’s fence planting in Raleigh, NC, surrounds a pool.  A seasonal garden, the Werner’s focused on plantings to give color, form and texture during the summer months.  Planted with a banana relative, Esete maurellii, Black Magic elephant ears, cosmos, zinnia, snapdragons, tickseed and verbena.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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The Garden of Denny and Georgina Werner

September 3, 2009 By 6 Comments
Werner Garden

Werner Garden

With drifts of purple coneflower, spikes of orange Canna, and the spilling of yellow coreopsis morphing the straight edge of the border, a garden is formed. And not just any garden, but the garden of Dr. Dennis (Denny) Werner, plant breeder North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, NC.

Since 1988, with the support of his wife, Georgina and their children, Denny has been making a home garden similar to what might be found in an arboretum.   Our goal was to create an expansive border that would allow us to grow a large diversity of species, that would provide a regular supply of cut flowers, attract wildlife, and a border that would have high visual impact when in flower from March through frost, says Denny.

His 160 foot border (2,800 square feet in all) has been tweaked, maintained, watched and wondered by visitors in flight and on foot.

July2009 Southern Living Visit 139
The Werner’s like to entertain in the garden finding that even non gardeners gravitate to the border. As a focal point in the yard,  The border is a great way initiate conversation with visitors,  Denny says.

This border is a haven for wildlife, attracting an incredible diversity of butterflies, moths, birds, bees, and other insects. As visitors are drawn closer, they are inevitable amazed at the abundance of wildlife fluttering and flitting about. An Eastern bluebird above is eyeing yellow and black swallowtail butterfly larvae feeding on fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Monarch larvae munching on milkweed (Asclepias spp.) and spicebush larvae serving up on their namesake, (Lindera spp.) Later, as these larvae form chrysalis and the respective butterflies emerge, they don’t have far to go to find their favorite nectar plants waiting.

Gaillardia aestivalis var. winklerii

Gaillardia aestivalis var. winklerii

Watching the birds feed on the garden is also a source of entertainment. The goldfinches alight the flowers of tall Verbena (Verbena bonariensis) causing the flower heads to sway as they feed on the seed; hummingbirds visit the Cannas, and towhees forage the ground. These birds share the garden with jays, robins, chickadees, mockingbirds, and crows.

More than wildlife benefit from the garden; the Werner’s share bouquets of fresh cut flowers – often times paired with a pint of blueberries – with friends and neighbors.

To others, the task of selecting the plants to go into a border this big might have been daunting. Not so with Denny. With his distinct advantage, selecting plants for his Zone 7b garden to perform well in the south’s hot, humid summers was all in a day’s work.

Working with clay is a common problem for gardeners in the south. Before the border could be built, it was necessary to improve the soil structure and drainage.

Deeply plowing and amending the soil by adding large amounts of compost and PermaTill to the site, prepared it for planting.

Some may find it surprising to learn the garden requires very little routine maintenance, Weed problems are minimal, as the growth of the plants is so vigorous that annual weeds have little chance to compete, says Denny.

In mid winter, the plants are cut down to remove dead growth. Then a covering of 1 -2 inches if shredded pine bark is applied to renew organic matter, control weeds, and to help retain soil moisture.
For most years in the Raleigh area, there is as little as three months between last frost and first flower. During this time, the garden sleeps. The Werner’s don’t have long to wait for the garden to begin again.

Helen Yoest is a garden writer and coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook friend’s page, Helen Yoest or Gardening With Confidence™ Face Book Fan Page.

Helen also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum

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Dr. Dennis (Denny) Werner’s garden in Nature’s Garden

April 6, 2009 By 5 Comments

Dr. Dennis (Denny) Werner, plant breeder at North Carolina State University (think ‘Blue Chip’ and ‘Miss. Ruby’) and his wife Dr. Georgina Werner’s garden on the cover and featured in Nature’s Garden, summer, 2009 issue.

You are going to LOVE this! If you garden for wildlife, want little to low maintenance, and like to see what nature returns each year, pick up a copy today.

james-baggett-photo-shoots-053

On the newsstands April 7th, Nature’s Garden features Denny and Georgina Werner’s garden. The Werner’s opened their garden in 2008 for the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour, also benefiting the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Left to right, James Baggett, Virginia Wieler, Denny Werner

Left to right, James Baggett, Virginia Weiler, Denny Werner

In the photo is James Baggett, editor of Country Gardens Magazine, photographer Virginia Weiler and of course, Denny. (Y’all, remember how much fun this was?) I’m the one taking the photograph and the story’s producer.

I believe we all look like our gardens; this garden looks just like Denny – BEAUTIFUL!

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P.S. Check out Nature’s Garden and Country Garden’s blogs

Nature’s Garden Magazine Blog – Jane McKeon

Country Gardener – James Baggett – Country Gardens Magazine

Helen Yoest

Gardening With Confidence

Helen  Yoest is a garden writer, speaker and garden coach through her business Gardening with Confidence™.

Follow Helen on Twitter @HelenYoest and her facebook Friend’s page, Helen Yoest; or facebook Like page, Gardening With Confidence™

Helen is a field editor for Better Homes and Gardens and Country Gardens magazine and she also serves on the board of advisors for the JC Raulston Arboretum.

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