Chain-link fences might be good for some things – keeping in pets, keeping out intruders, sticking to a budget – but they certainly couldn’t be called pretty. That is, until you get your gardening hands on them. If you’ve inherited a chain-link, or if you’re planning one, here are four ways from local gardeners to put some bling on your fence.
BED IT
Sounds obvious, but a bed of mixed plantings on either side of a chain-link fence can transform it. Tacoma residents Jo and Dennis Beckley installed theirs around their whole property three years ago to keep in their poodle-Maltese cross. Jo went to work, creating curving beds on the lawn side and straight ones on the street side fringed with rock wall and gravel path. Into the beds went small trees such as maple, flowering plum, dogwood and liquid amber; evergreens like rhododendrons and azaleas; conifers, grasses and blueberries; and a mix of flowering perennials. Over the fence itself Jo planted vines such as honeysuckle and clematis, plus a couple of old-fashioned single roses that bloom all summer.
The result is stunning – a black fence which serves as backdrop to an impressive burst of color and foliage. It’s even inspired the neighbors to start their own fence garden.
“It takes a lot of weeding,” says Jo, “but we’re happy with the fence and the dog can run around.”
Plants to use: Try a mixture of evergreen, deciduous and perennial for year-round color or texture.
VINE IT
Another approach to a chain-link is to use it as a structure for climbing plants. As well as the usual suspects of honeysuckle, clematis and passionflower, Gig Harbor garden designer Sue Goetz suggests using shrubs and perennials that are limber enough to weave or tuck into the chain-link. You’ll have to work at this – tie branches with jute in the right direction, remove ones growing outward, and watch for aggressive vines that cling backward onto themselves – but it’s worth it to have a living fence that’s attractive in all seasons, says Goetz.
Plants to use: Camellia varieties that have a lazy, sprawling habit can easily be woven, plus they bloom early; try Camellia sasanqua: Bonanza, Hana Jiman or Mine-No-Yuki (‘White Doves’), and Camellia hiemalis: Chansonette, Shishi-Gashira, Showa-no-Sakae. Confederate or star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is evergreen and fragrant. Rosemary prostratus ‘Irene’ spreads up to six feet and can be woven; it will also enjoy the heat from a metal fence, blooming blue in late winter. Climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala petiolaris) is not evergreen but has unique shedding bark that creates winter interest, with large lace cap flower heads which can be left on the plant over the winter to add interest. Pyracantha or firethorn is evergreen, blooms white in spring and bears reddish-orange berries well into winter – just watch the thorns. Cotoneaster lacteus, or Parney’s cotoneaster, has a loose graceful habit that grows fast and trains easily.
FLOWER IT
Flowers can be a quick solution for beautifying chain-link, especially ones that need support. You don’t have to dig a big bed for these, though they’ll appreciate having the grass kept away from them. You can even try vegetables such as pumpkin, squash and cucumber – they’ll love the heat from the metal, and you won’t take up lots of flat garden space.
Plants to use: For annuals, follow sweet peas in spring with sunflowers in summer, using the fence to steady them. Hollyhocks and delphiniums are other annuals that self-seed and appreciate support. The Lady Banks rose (Rosa banksiae) is a fast yellow-blooming climber that can be easily woven in chain link and does not need typical rose pruning. It also rarely gets aphids or disease, and does not have thorns.
HIDE IT
If you really don’t want to see the fence at all, you can use leafy or tall plants to hide it completely. For their alley fence line, Jo and Dennis Beckley planted thick arborvitae, which not only give privacy but add formality to a patio area. You can also use willowy trees and leafy shrubs – but don’t go overboard. You don’t want to spend a lot of time pruning around metal, and if you ever need to take the fence down you’ll want access. And if the fence is next to the sidewalk, pedestrians need space.
As Sue Goetz puts it, “Always consider what the fence should look like, and when the plant goes outside of the boundaries of that, then trim it. It still is a fence after all, and the attractive appearance of a living fence is to grow along the fence, not create a blob of plants that happens to have a fence running through the middle of it.”
Plants to use: Arbor vitae is useful if you have to deal with a really high fence (schools, golf courses.) Leafy shrubs include abelia, evergreen huckleberry, yew, privet or elaeagnus. Avoid truly aggressive climbers like ivy, hops or blackberry, for obvious reasons.
Rosemary Ponnekanti: 253-597-8568
rosemary.ponnekanti@ thenewstribune.com
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