Easy Fence Landscaping Ideas: 6 Ways To Perk Up Your Property Line With Lush Landscaping

As the old saying goes, good fences make good neighbors. In fact, even homeowners with great neighbors like their privacy – and fencing is key to marking out strong and impactful borders. Fence landscaping ideas can also be a powerful way to add definition and texture. Simple landscaping along the fence line has esthetic and practical benefits, whether you are after imaginative backyard landscaping ideas, quick ways of cultivating a privacy screen, or a relatively cheap garden makeover for your space.

So what are the best plants for fence line planting? Which landscaping additions are likely to make the most impact in the quickest time, and with minimum fuss? We’ve put together a shortlist of easy and exciting fence line landscaping ideas to get you started and add joy and stability to your property line.

1. Create a Flower Shrub Border

If you’re after a garden edging that packs real visual punch, why not incorporate a bed of shrubs and blossoms against the fence line? Select a sunny spot along the border fence and build a bed of flowers. These can be incorporated into vertical displays with flowering fences, climbing vines and other clambering plants.

It’s impossible to name one best plant to install along your border fencing. Individual selections will depend on climate as well as personal preferences. However, the following shrubs and plants will help add definition and impact as simple fence line landscaping ideas in all kinds of themes and planting spaces.

Big Leaf Hydrangea

I admit it: hydrangea is one of my very favorite landscape shrubs. Their easy-care ways and generous crop of gorgeous, long-lasting blossoms make them a top landscape selection. I personally love a bigleaf (Hydrangea macrophylla), with its huge, round, grapefruit-size flowers that can be blue or red depending on the acidity of the soil. But there are many gorgeous varieties to choose from, including some that love a full sun location and others that thrive in shade.

Early Spiraea

Plants in the Spiraea (Spiraea thunbergii) family are extremely popular landscape plants; easy to grow and easy to maintain. There are hundreds of species and cultivars available. All species of spiraea have lance-shaped leaves and generous clusters of blossoms. I’m particularly fond of a species called early spiraea – it is appealing in spring for its tight flower clusters, then lights up the yard in the fall with its fiery leaf display. Or you could try nectar-rich steeplebush (Spirea tomentosa), available from our Gardening Know How Shop, for a summer-blooming native.

Evergreen Azalea

You can find deciduous azalea plants (Rhododendron spp.) in garden stores, but why not choose evergreen azaleas for fence landscaping? These easy-care plants have an extremely long flowering system, blooming from late winter into early fall. There are over a dozen varieties of evergreen azaleas in garden stores, but check out the Indica species with glorious flowers of red, pink, white and purple.

Abelia

Abelia (Abelia x grandiflora) is a member of the honeysuckle family, so you know its flowers will be lovely. This graceful shrub offers delicate blooms in a dense display to make them excellent hedging plants. There are lots of abelia varieties and everyone has their favorite. For me, it is the popular Grandiflora species that grows to 8 feet (2.6m) tall and is full of white or pink flowers in the growing season. Another cultivar, ‘Kaleidoscope’, has crimson stems and variegated leaves.

Butterfly Bush

Deciduous in cooler regions and perennial in mild climates, the butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) produces green foliage on arching branches, and impressive flowering spikes in the growing season. However, butterfly bushes are invasive so bear this in mind if you’re worried about the impact on native plants (some sterile, non-invasive cultivars are available). They are also banned in a few US states like Washington and Oregon.

2. Make a Living Fence

If you don’t have a very big backyard, a tall solid fence can make the area seem confined and blocky. If that’s your case, forget about wood and nails and instead install shrubs. Mixing and matching evergreen and flowering deciduous shrub varieties to create a living fence that changes from season to season.

3. Try Fence Plus Hedging

Some homeowners use a hedge instead of a fence, and others choose a fence instead of hedging. It’s particularly nice – and has many advantages – to use both, planting evergreen shrubs along the fencing. While arborvitae is a fast-growing, popular choice, my personal favorite is holly, especially 'Emerald Colonnade', with its pleasing dense foliage.

4. Go for Bird-Friendly Landscaping

Some homeowners are fans of wild birds in the backyard. If you’re keen on cultivating a joyful bird garden as well as an impactful border, consider putting in landscaping tailored to local wildlife. Pick shrubs and trees that provide tip-top shelter and preferred food to get birds flocking to your yard.

You can choose colorful berry bushes like glossy black chokeberry and Northern bayberry. You can also create a gorgeous berry-rich screen with the structural spicebush, available from the Gardening Know How shop, which is also an early-season treat for bees and butterflies. Just be careful to find out about the wild birds in the area and what they need before you start choosing plants.

5. Try Fencing with Shelving

If you are a container gardening fan, you can incorporate shelving or pegs in your fencing. Try hanging baskets of flowering plants, and suspend them along the fence or sit overflowing pots on the shelves. This landscaping idea allows you to switch out the plants to make sure something bright and blooming is always present.

Other Great Landscaping and Hardscaping Ideas

• Looking for ways to make your garden look centuries older without having to bend time? Try these friendly hardscaping ideas to make a garden look old – fast.
• Keen to fill your yard with undemanding evergreens for easy texture and visual interest? Our selection of low maintenance evergreen shrubs look great year round.
• Stuck for landscaping ideas and craving the most up-to-date thematic makeovers? Our guide to key garden trends is sure to inspire your landscaping journey this year.
• If you’re keen to enhance fences and walls, make sure beds and borders are filled with easy color. These small flower bed ideas go big on impact.

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