4 Ways To Dress Up A Chain Link Fence On A Residential Property
If you're like many modern homeowners, you love the idea of enclosing your property with a strong, sturdy fence in order to keep pets and children in the yard and deter potential home intruders as well as urban wildlife pests. Chain link fencing has been found to be durable, inexpensive, and easy to maintain, but many people simply don't care for its industrial appearance. Fortunately, you can have the safety, low maintenance, and durability of a chain link fence around your residential property without ending up looking as if it belongs in an industrial district. If you'd prefer a charming cottage garden look, you can easily create that using a variety of flowering or evergreen plants. Following are just four of the many ways that you can use plants to hide your chain link fencing.
Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums feature vibrant flowers in colors of soft cream, bright yellow, sunny orange, and vivid red. The climbing variety grows from between eight to 15 feet and is ideal for planting in the ground right next to chain link fences. They grow quickly and will soon cover the fence with flowers and green leaves. Nasturtiums begin blooming in early summer and last until the first heavy frost of fall.
Morning Glories
Morning glories provide a great alternative for those who love the cottage garden look of a chain link fence covered in flowers but would rather have colors of cool blues, whites, and pinks rather than the orange palette of nasturtiums. Like nasturtiums, they grow quickly, but they're a bit more frost-sensitive, so they won't last quite as long unless you live in an area that's relatively frost free.
Climbing Roses
Climbing roses provide a quintessential look that also has practical benefits — roses have thorns that go a long way toward deterring potential intruders. Even during winter when the rose plants are dormant, sharp thorns are still a prominent part of the picture, so be sure to consider this option if you live in an area where petty crime is a concern.
Arborvitae
Those who want a fuss-free, year-round option should consider planting rows of arborvitae along their chain link fencing. Arborvitae are small evergreen trees that grow between 10 and 20 feet high with a pyramidal, upright growth habit. They're a great choice for those who live in northern or mountainous regions that have short growing seasons. As an added bonus, they're usually pest and disease free and require no extra watering once established.
Talk with a fencing specialist about what plants they think would work well with the fence.
