On the Fence

Having politely (mostly) mentioned that my neighbors to the west of our house are a wee bit too close for comfort, I left out one very ugly, unsightly detail: our properties are divided by a chain-link fence. A hideous, garish, unsightly chain-link fence, that was installed by and belongs to my neighbors (long before we moved here...) that they love. No, really- they love their fence. I remember the first day I met them- my mother and I were in the garden, talking about what plants would stay, and what (most) plants would go when my neighbor came out of her house. I wanted to start out on the right foot so I called out a "hello" and introduced myself, and my mom...what we got in return was a hello and an "I don't want you to plant anything that will grow or spread or climb onto my beautiful chain-link fence." Okay, she didn't say the "my beautiful" part, but she did say the rest. Welcome to the neighborhood. For the past 8 seasons that we have lived here, I have tried my best to keep my plants on my side, and off the fence...but they are plants- they grow. I have had gardeny dreams of replacing the fence that borders the western property line with something pretty...not in the budget any time soon...but still dream like I could install something like this-


Ain't it purty? Even if I could just do a few sections randomly down the fence line, I think it would be fantastic. (And a fantastic improvement....) The fence is made of hazelwood, which is supposed to last for an incredibly long time, and weathers beautifully. I would like 75ft please....



Until the day comes when we can install a new fence (what is the saying about good fences and good neighbors?) I will continue to try new tall plants, new bushes, new scramblers (that I do not let scramble, or climb, or grow too close to the fence...) that cover up large pieces of the chain-link, in hopes that one day I have enough green that I don't mind the silvery-gray that still dominates my little garden scene. One man's trash....
Fence found here. Thank you!