Don’t Fence Me In By Bobbie Schwartz, FAPLD
T
he sun is shining, but it’s not yet time to put away the winter coats. However, if someone doesn’t have a fence or is thinking about replacing one, read on. Although many landscapes have beautifully designed planting plans, creativity seems to be lacking when it comes to designing the fencing. We are used to seeing picket fences, stockade fences, split rail fences, and perhaps even bentwood fences, but why must those types of fences be the only ones we use? Why are the designs always vertical? And why are they always white, black, or gray? For instance, I have a stockade fence that came with the house more than 35 years ago. It has held up fairly well and serves as an innocuous background for that section of my gar-
A blue metal door and Eco-Mesh fence star in a Virginia suburb. den. The fence is very long, so when I changed the trim color of my house and garage from brown to aqua, I painted every other fence post the same color and topped the posts with copper caps. A woman who used to be in manufacturing took materials she was familiar with and made them into something special. She used royal blue Eco-Mesh, wire mesh and frames that are powder coated in a wide variety of colors. It can be used for plant facades, screens, trellises and more that are strong and sustainable but she used it to create a tall fence that separates her driveway from her backyard.
Painting every other fence post aqua turned a boring fence into sight that pleases the eye even during the winter.
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