10 Best Plants For Fence Line

Most Popular Plants For Fence Line

If you have a fence in your garden, it can break the natural flow of your thriving plants or just become unsightly. Concealing it with a beautiful plant or vine is a good idea, and the bonus is that it will elevate your garden’s overall appearance. 

In this article, I’ll explore stunning plants like clematis, ivy, honeysuckle, holly, and more that perfectly cover fence lines. I’ll also explain why they work so well, as well as provide tips on how to take care of them. Let’s begin. 

10 Of the Best Plants For Fence Lines & How To Grow Them

If you want to hide a fence you’ve erected in your garden, you have many choices at your disposal. Climbing plants are a great way to hide a fence, but hedges also work well. With this in mind, let’s go over ten plants for your fence line.

1. Clematis

About Clematis Bloom

This climbing plant adds more than a dash of green to your garden. It blooms in gorgeous flowers that have six or seven pointed petals on them, giving the flowers a star-like appearance. 

Whether you have a small space you want to fill up or a larger boundary line that needs covering up, you can find clematis climbers in different sizes and different flower styles. Some have small flowers and others produce bell-like blossoms. 

When planting clematis to beautify your fence, remember this golden rule for its care: it prefers the sun on its leaves and cool soil for its roots. So, plant it in an area of the garden where it will get at least six hours of sunshine per day. Keep its soil moist, with good drainage. 

Unlike some other climbing plants, clematis needs to have things to wrap its leaf stems around, which are short, as it doesn’t naturally twine itself around fences. Prepare steel rods, twine, or even a fishing line to assist its upward climb. 

2. Arborvitae​​

Arborvitae​​ by Fence

Arborvitae is a large, pyramid-shaped evergreen tree from the cypress family. When planting a few arborvitaes in a row, it’s best to provide greater privacy in the garden while concealing your fence line. While some arborvitae can reach a height of about 15 feet (4.6m), you can also find dwarf arborvitae varieties that reach a height of approximately three feet (0.9m). 

Before choosing the perfect spot for your arborvitae, make sure you consider its maximum height so that you keep the tree far away from power lines and buildings. You also don’t want it to damage your fence, so keep it about eight feet (2.4m) away from it. 

Care for your arborvitae by providing it with moist soil. To give it a lot of water but prevent overwatering it, which can cause issues such as root rot, make use of a soaker hose. You should keep its soil moist during the spring and summer months. 

Since this evergreen tree thrives in sunny areas, you should plant it in the garden where it will receive full-sun conditions every day. It’s perfect for any spot where you want to block your neighbor’s view.

3. Ivy

Ivy Fence

This woody self-clinging climbing plant grows quickly, so it’s an ideal choice if you want to conceal fences or walls. Self-clinging climbers naturally grip onto climbing surfaces with the use of their aerial roots or adhesive pads. Ivy contains aerial roots that release a sticky substance which helps it to climb up structures and surfaces with ease.

To properly cover your fence, choose an ivy variety that’s renowned for being a great climber. These include choices such as English ivy, which grows up to 100 feet (30.5m), and Algerian ivy, which grows up to 40 feet (12m). 

Ivy doesn’t require a lot of maintenance as it’s easy to grow. It requires well-draining soil but can handle a variety of soil pH levels without a problem. Make sure you provide it with partial-shade or full-shade conditions. Don’t overwater it, as you should only top up its water supply when the surface of the soil feels dry.

4. Skip laurel

Hedge Skip Laurel

If you love the idea of planting low-maintenance, dense bushes in the garden, you should consider skip laurel trees. These evergreen shrubs are compact and smaller than many other types of laurel trees, as can be seen by their small, green, glossy leaves. Since they stay green all year long, they will provide your garden with beauty, while their bushy appearance provides greater privacy.

When growing skip laurel against a fence to cover it, you’ll need to plant it about a few inches (approx. 7cm) away from the structure. This ensures that your plants will grow and spread properly. 

Skip laurels aren’t fussy about the type of soil in which they’re grown as long as it drains well. They can grow well in both partial-shade to full-sun conditions. Water your tree once every 10 days, as it doesn’t require regular watering. You can, however, maintain soil moisture by applying a layer of mulch that’s approximately three inches (7.62 cm) thick around the tree.  

5. Honeysuckle

honeysuckle hedge

With its strong tendrils that help it to grip surfaces, honeysuckle will transform your fence into a stunning garden statement piece. Honeysuckle blooms in gorgeous flowers that can be white, yellow, pink, cream, orange, or red in color. When grown with roses, they provide a charming and romantic appearance. 

Just make sure you choose a climbing honeysuckle variety. You can purchase deciduous, semi-green, or evergreen climbers. Deciduous climbers provide more showy flowers, while the evergreen ones keep your garden green all year round but produce smaller flowers, as Gardeners World reports.   

Give your honeysuckle well-draining, moist soil. Ideally, it should be planted in partial-shade conditions – aim to keep its roots in the shade and its stems in the sunlight. 

To encourage your honeysuckle to cover your fence, you should secure its stems with ties or twine. As the plant grows, its stems will twine through the support structure, providing good coverage. However, make sure you place your plants about eight inches (20.32cm) away from the fence or support structure. 

6. Holly

Holly hedge

Holly makes you think of mistletoe during the festive season, with its dark-green spiky leaves and brightly-colored berries. This plant can be used as a bush or climber, thanks to how it grows to a height of 80 feet (24.3m) tall and 50 feet (15.24m) in diameter.

When planting holly, give it acidic, well-draining soil and full or dappled sun. Note that the more sunlight your holly bushes receive, the more berries they will produce. Avoid transplanting your holly, as this can be too stressful for them. 

Otherwise, holly is easy to look after because it doesn’t require regular watering unless your region is experiencing severely dry or drought conditions. In these cases, give your holly bush about two inches (5.08cm) of water every week. 

You can trim your holly into shapes or hedges, or let it naturally climb over your fence. Remember to prune it late in the summer before new growth on the plant becomes woody. 

Pro tip: If you love holly plants with bold red berries, you should look for a holly variety that doesn’t require a male plant to help it produce its berries, or you can plant male and female plants close together, as HGTV reports. To find out more about red plants for your garden, read our guide on houseplants with red leaves.

7. Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Although some might think of Morning Glory as invasive, this feature is advantageous if you want to cover up a fence with it as it grows and spread quickly. Morning Glory is a beautiful annual plant that produces flowers that can be red, purple, blue, white, pink, or multi-colored, but it needs full-sun conditions to thrive.

Morning Glory grows to a height of about six to 12 feet (1.8-3.7m), depending on the variety. Plant it in a neutral soil pH, although it can handle a variety of soil types. Make sure you avoid giving the soil too much organic matter, as this can cause your plant not to bloom as much. However, applying organic matter in the form of mulch around the plant’s roots helps maintain soil moisture. You should also water your plant once a week with approximately one inch (2.54cm) of water.

8. Chocolate Vine

Chocolate Vine

Native to parts of North America and Asia, the chocolate vine gets its name from its brown-purple flowers and the subtle chocolate scent that they release, as The Spruce reports. Chocolate vine grows to a height of approximately 40 feet (12m) in just one growing season, so it will fill up areas of your garden where you need more greenery very quickly.

Unlike some other climbing plants, the chocolate vine requires a bit of help to vine up your fence. A bit of twine can help it have something to wrap around. You can string some twine through holes in a fence so that you provide it with enough support. 

How much light you give the chocolate vine depends on what you want it to look like. A bit of shade will encourage it to grow just fine, but if you want it to flower to its maximum potential, you will need to plant it in an area of full sun. 

Chocolate vine craves sandy-loam soil that has a lot of organic matter in it. Make sure you water it weekly, with about one inch (2.54cm) of water to keep it in excellent condition. 

9. Climbing Roses

Climbing Roses

You can grow roses to hide your fence, but make sure you use a climbing variety. This can grow to a height of between eight and 18 feet (2.4-5.5m), and since it’s compact, it quickly becomes nice and dense. Climbing roses also provide large gorgeous flowers that are really easy on the eye. 

Once your plant is established, water it once a week. If your region experiences a lot of dry or hot conditions, you should water it more regularly to ensure that it has enough water. You should also apply mulch to the roses, such as with bark chips, to prevent the growth of weeds and ensure that the soil maintains moisture. 

When training your rose climber to grow up a fence, note that its largest canes won’t produce lots of roses, but they’ll produce secondary shoots from which flowers will appear. Training the canes in a horizontal direction will encourage the plant to produce more shoots so that you’ll get a plant that produces more flowers. 

Make sure you maintain your climbing rose regularly by pruning it every spring. Remove any spent or dying blooms, which is known as deadheading, so that the plant puts more energy into producing new flowers. 

10. Verbena Bonariensis 

Verbena Bonariensis

Since this hardy plant that originates from South America grows upwards, it works well for concealing a fence line, but it’s best for fences that you don’t mind being visible because it has thin stems. It works well as a border in the garden as it’s a tall verbena variety. Verbena Bonariensis can grow to a height of approximately six feet (1.8m) in one growing season.

This verbena plant grows tall but you don’t need to use stakes; it has rigid stems that provide it with enough support. 

Verbena Bonariensis blooms in purple flowers that will add a little bit of drama to your garden. These tube-like flowers appear during the middle of summer and stick around until the first frost in your region, as the University of Wisconsin Madison reports. 

To ensure it can look its best and grow healthy, plant Verbena Bonariensis in a full-sun area of the garden. While it’s easy to care for because it can thrive in a variety of soil types, make sure it has moist, well-draining soil. 

Conclusion

Planting a gorgeous climber or evergreen bush to conceal an unsightly fence is relatively easy. Such plants offer both privacy and beauty. In this article, we listed ten of the best plants and trees for fence lines, such as holly, arborvitae, honeysuckle, and verbena. We hope it was helpful and you picked your next garden project among the choices.

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About The Author

Gina Harper grew up dreaming about farms and growing her own food. She began an urban garden to feed herself and turned it into an incredible hobby. Gina is here to teach you everything from raised beds to container gardening, how to keep plants alive and well in a smoggy city, and the works. It’s time that we carve our own piece of green earth and reap what we sow—she’s here to help you with that.