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.

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

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

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

Those 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

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