Planting at Three Board Wood Fence

by B

Wood Fencing and Plantings
(see reply below)





I have a brick home on 5 acres with a black 3 board style pasture fence that goes along the front about 80' from the house. We have a nice flat front yard with Bradford Pears along the side borders of the yard. I want to dress up the 3 board fence a little.

The driveway is on the right side of the fence. I've recently planted a bunch of fruit trees on the backside of the property and thought about lining the fence with raspberry and blackberry bushes.... 3 blackberry, space, 4 raspberry, space, 3 blackberry.

The only thing is, in the winter it would look like trashy briars. Any other suggestions for lining the fence? I thought about African iris's, but that may be a little overkill. I want to dress it up, not smother it. Thanks for your help.

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ANSWER

Hi B,

You've described things pretty well, but I have some questions before I can give you my ideas.

1. Are you thinking about putting the plantings on the inside of the fence closer to your house, or on the outside closer to the road?
2. Do you need any privacy or would you rather keep things lower so that your house can be seen from the road?
3. Where do you live? This will help determine what will grow in your area.
4. Do you have a deer problem? No sense in adding plants that the deer love.

Let me know so that I can let you know my thoughts. Thanks for contacting me.

Susan

Landscaping Along A Fence

by Brad Joiner
(Mobile, AL )

Backyard Facing Northwest

Susan,
I was wondering if you could make some suggestions on how to spruce up my backyard with some landscaping beds that include low maintenance shrubs and perennials. I'm looking to plant these along the sides and back of my fence to act as a screen to hide it.

The backyard is about 95ft wide and 80ft deep. About 15ft from the back of the fence the yard starts to slop off. It about a 3ft drop-off. Since the picture was taken I've added (2) Tulip Poplar's and (1) Summer Red Maple. They are only about 5ft tall right now so provide no significant shade but I want to plant items that will perform while in shade as these will grow to be large shade trees. The (2) Tulip Poplar's have been planted in each of the back corners of the yard about 20ft from the back corners of the fence. The (1) summer red maple is planted directly between the (2) tulips about 17ft from the back of the fence.

I'm able to get great prices from a local distributor on the following items shrubs and would possibly like to include a few of them in my design as a screen along the fence with the perennials in front of them.

Cleyara Bigfoot 15 gal
Ligustrum Bush and Tree Formed 15 gal
Magnolia Little Gem 15 gal
Nellie R Stevens Holly 15 gal
Mary Nell Holly 15 gal
Sweet Olive 15 gal
Sago Palm
Loropetalum Pizazz and Ruby 3 gal.

I would definitely like to include the loropetalum and some Pink Muhly Grass.

Thanks,

Brad Joiner
Mobile, AL
Zone 8

corner picket fence

I just put a corner picket fence on each side of the driveway entrance. Looking for suggestions on what to plant in front of the fence, I was thinking roses.

ANSWER
I need some more info!
1. Is the area sunny?
2. How long is each area?
3. Do you have a deer problem?

Susan

Fence Plantings

by Mel
(Tulsa, OK)

We are about to move into a new home that has a garage on the right side that is connected, but just out about 18 ft farther than the left side of the house.

The house to our left, which is on the set back side of our home, has a fence that goes all the way up to the top corner of their home. Thus, their fence is about 15 feet higher up in our yard than the front of our home.

They have a wood fence and it is about 8 feet from the side of our home. Is there any suggestion you have about whether we should landscape to cover the fence. We are planning on landscaping the front of our home near the two windows and on each side of the walkway, but I wasn't sure about the fence area.

Thank you for any suggestions you might have.