Best ideas to cover a garden fence

One of the best ways to cover an unattractive fence is to use a trellis which will allow you to grow climbing plants to cover your fence. This willow trellis on its own will give your fence a lift but whatever type of climber you choose, the trellis will help it grow up and out to provide the coverage you need. The willow trellis is extra strong, and durable and will support long-stemmed plants as well.

Customer review: “These willow trellises fit perfectly onto the existing fence panels and look very natural. My roses are already happily climbing along them and the trellises have certainly improved the appearance of the garden fence.”

If you have a wooden fence you will probably already have given it a coat of wood stain to provide extra protection and to enhance the colour. Another slightly bolder solution is to give your fence a coat of wood paint. Cuprinol Garden Shades has been around for a number of years now and offers a good selection of quality paints in colours which have been designed to work in a garden environment. The great advantage is that you’re not stuck with one colour and you can change colour as often as you wish.

Customer review: “Very pleasant colour, easy to apply and clean up. A minimum of two coats is required and although that’s a pain the second coat offers a really good finish and depth of colour. I know from experience this paint is durable and the colour and protection from the elements lasts.”

One of the most enduring and popular climbing plants is Wisteria due to the fact that it’s relatively easy to grow, is pretty vigorous once it gets going (although this particular species is not quite so aggressive) and it produces pretty and fragrant flowers a couple of times a year. If you’re starting to grow from small plants, you’ll need to allow a few years for your Wisteria to start flowering but this time will allow you to prune, train and shape it as you wish, ready to enjoy it when it blooms.

Customer review: ”How easy this plant has been for me to get going. I find that it is not picky and withstands some hard conditions. As long as it has something to "attach" to it appears happy!”

These colourful planters have been designed to attach to just about any type of garden fence to allow your inner designer to experiment with positioning, colour mix and plant choice. There are ten in a pack so whether you fancy planting something that will hang nicely like fuchsia or begonias, more upright varieties like geranium or hibiscus or perhaps even venture to use them for growing herbs you have plenty of choice.

Customer review: ”I wanted something to put on my fences to brighten them up, the pots are perfect, good value for money & a well-finished product.”

There are very few occasions where some form of lighting doesn’t help to improve the ambience. The only problem is that you only get the full effect during the hours of darkness. But with this set of lights from Argos, you can set the mood and enjoy the warm white glow at night and during the day they present as a decorative ivy garland to improve the appearance of your fence. The lights are solar powered so you don’t need to worry about wiring or batteries – just set up the solar panel and let the sun do its work.

Customer review: ”They are very robust and whilst they illuminate best in summer they do actually function all year round. No assembly required and look fairly realistic once in place.”

Sometimes, to keep pets and little ones safe, or to protect our veggie plots from pests or perhaps for security purposes, our choice of fence has to be of a practical rather than an aesthetic and that’s why this artificial ivy leaf screening is a real boon. It can take away the utilitarian feel of a fence and give your boundary a much friendlier appearance. The screening rolls are easy to clip together and are UV fade-protected so they are suited to long-term outdoor use.

Customer review: “It gives you privacy and it looks good. It blends in with my real beech hedge further over in the garden.”

If you really want to ‘go for it’ these artificial boxwood hedge panels will provide you with a decorative and private covering while almost completely hiding your fence. The additional advantage of these is that you can continue the motif onto adjacent walls and use them as a theme to cover fences situated adjacent to lawns giving the impression of deep greenery. They are great for privacy, shade or as a windbreak.

Customer review: “The foliage is of great quality and it is not sheer at all. The leaves seem to be a latex/rubbery material, and they are pretty high-quality fake leaves.”

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