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When I think organic I usually picture being in tune with nature, totally natural, free of anything harsh, manmade and plastic. When I think of fencing I picture the typical white picket, the un-inspired chain link, the extremely costly wrought iron, the severe brick or stone monsters of stately homes or the rustic split rail. So what exactly is organic fencing? And, more importantly, why would you want to go that way?
To me it means using shrubs, trees and flowers in place of traditional fencing. Why would you want to do this? Perhaps you want privacy between you and a neighbor or you merely want their dog out of your yard. Maybe there is an unsightly something you’d rather not see or there’s a noisy road that you’d like to block out of hearing. It could be you want dividers within your landscape to creating garden rooms, separating garden beds or to soften an already existing and possibly ugly fence. It just so happens all of these reasons were mine for doing what I did with this so-called organic fencing.
My new neighbor was a thoroughly nice guy, his dog, not so much. As my kids were little and I still liked them I chose to block out Mr. Nice Guy and his frantically barking and frightening puppy. Six-eight foot tall Colorado Blue Spruce trees were planted in two staggering lines completely doing the job. The benefit of these quickly growing trees is they made the perfect place for birds to build their nests. How much more organic can you get than that?
In the orchard we had an ugly though useful field fence to keep deer out but I didn’t want to see it. We planted Rhododendrons along this fence. It served two purposes. The deer couldn’t see through the thick evergreen shrubs. This kept the deer from seeing my ripening fruit which would entice them to do anything to get at them and it made them wary of jumping into the unknown. The other is the plants grew quickly to totally obliterate the fence so I didn’t see it.
In the back yard I wanted a sanctuary away from the world. I needed something to enclose it and to keep the sometimes harsh wind down. I wanted it soft and natural to attract wildlife, airy enough to defuse the stiff wind into a gentle breeze and to define garden rooms. I achieved this with the help of a tall, sprawling Honeysuckle hedge, Lonicera Tatarica which produced flowers with an intoxicating scent and provided the birds with plenty to eat. They love the bright red berries it produced in mid-summer. This was on one side.
On the other side I planted a long hedge of Rosa Rugosa an extremely hardy shrub rose which blooms profusely. The single, highly fragrant flowers also produced huge rosehips for the birds to feast on. It has killer thorns, too, so no deer, dog or cat in his right mind would try to break through it.
On the last remaining side we had an already existing tree line but to provide more cover under these we planted shade tolerant bushes like Azaleas, Mountain Laurel, Andromida Japanica and Viburnum. Inter-planted with these were Hosta Alba Marginata, Hay-scented Ferns, Foxgloves, Columbines and Trillium. Needless to say it was beautiful and did the job of creating my sanctuary.
Within the back yard I still needed some dividers between my red garden bed and the water feature, my pond with cascading waterfall. For this I used Lilac, Syringa Vulgaris. On the other side of the pond there was the sight of an abandoned car my other neighbor seemed likely to keep there until it rusted thoroughly. Not pretty and all there was between us was a see-right-through chainlink fence. Heck no! I planted a Trumpet vine which quickly covered the whole thing and attracted Hummingbirds like mad.
On the side of the house I wanted a backdrop to my large perennial boarder. For this I chose Hardy Hibiscus Moscheutos, also known as the Rose Mallow or the Marsh Mallow (probably called this because it does well in swampy areas). This perennial Hibiscus grows quickly to tower over me. All right, so I’m only five foot two on a good day but I think that’s pretty tall for a perennial.
To create the elusion of a garden room I planted a row of another shrub, this time Hibiscus Syriacus which is called Rose of Sharon in the northern part of the US and in other places it is known as the Althaea shrub. These upright, compact plants provide a little windbreak for the less hardy perennials I have planted behind them.
In the vegetable garden I grew sunflowers to shade the cool-weather-loving veggies like broccoli, Pok Choy, and Spinach. To separate this garden from another perennial boarder I used Miscanthus Sinensis , a large, tall, clumping ornamental grass with huge silvery plumes. This made a wonderfully graceful backdrop to my various perennials and during those winter months when nothing good seems to be going on in the garden this grass sounds lovely rustling around in the wind.
I’ve given you many examples of organic fencing and the many ways and reasons to use them. Perhaps now you won’t be so quick to go down to the hardware store for expensive supplies to build a fence that won’t be nearly as pretty nor welcoming to birds, bees and butterflies. I’ll bet your neighbors will like it too. Why not try it? If nothing else you’ll beautify your yard and you can never lose doing that. Trust me on this folks.
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 For more garden talk, funny short stories and romantic novel excerpts visit http://www.helium.com/users/32782
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