Flowers Painted On A Garden Fence
fence
(Image credit: Gardening Know How, via Heather Rhoades)

Fences are often necessary to keep something in or to keep something out. Our pets and young children are among the most necessary to keep inside our fences. Conversely, we want to keep other animals out of our yards and to keep individuals with poor intentions away too. Often, we end up needing garden fence ideas. A new garden fence design serves those purposes while providing new decorating challenges in the landscape.

Implementing Decorative Garden Fences

Fences for gardens often expand to encompass the whole backyard and sometimes the front too. Depending on your landscape design, you may use some of the following fun garden fence ideas. You may find the appearance of your new fence stark or unattractive. If so, soften lines and add color with plant materials and interesting hardscape features to hold them in place and direct their growth. There are many innovative and unusual ideas for decorating fun garden fences on Pinterest and Facebook. One such idea is a ledged shelf with several levels to hold succulent plants. Some fences are fashioned from pallets, others from wooden planks left over from another project. Some are constructed from cement blocks or even bricks. Take a look at the ones you might easily put together and use as decorations in front of your fence. Those in colder climates might need to move their ledges to provide winter protection for the succulents. Keep that in mind when building or renovating your ledges for fence decoration.

Additional Ideas for Fun Garden Fences

You may use climbing and flowering vines as part of your garden fence ideas. Use lightweight vines that aren’t too vigorous, especially if your fence is wooden. Don’t plant climbing ivies that root and grow heavily. These can make the fence lean over time. Passion flower, hyacinth bean, and black-eyed Susan vines are annuals that die back during winter. Morning glory may be a good choice for some, although the seeds drop and the plant returns year after year. The moonflower is another seed-dropping annual that is effective for garden fence design. Hanging baskets filled with your favorite flowers beautify a stark garden fence. Use plastic or other lightweight containers to avoid a sway in your fence. Upcycle old picture frames to surround a flowering display. Use plant hangers on the wooden fence to hold hanging pots or Mason jars, empty or planted. Add lightweight birdhouses to decorate your garden fence. Secure them with wire onto wooden and chain link fences in early spring. Add benches or other seating close by to watch the antics of the birds who use them. Hang an old window if you have one available. Use lightweight shelving units or crates to hold your outdoor decorations. Another option is to paint flowers or whimsical designs on a fence. Let your imagination flow when decorating your garden fence. Remember, less is more in outdoor design situations such as this. Use one or two ideas and repeat a few times throughout your fenced areas.

Becca Badgett
Writer

Becca Badgett was a regular contributor to Gardening Know How for ten years. Co-author of the book How to Grow an EMERGENCY Garden, Becca specializes in succulent and cactus gardening.