12 Best Plants for Fence Lines

“Earth laughs in flowers” is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that many don’t really appreciate until everything is blanketed by a layer of snow and the landscape lies barren. You’ll often find that places are made more enduring when surfaces are festooned with a multitude of blooms. 

Fences, while dull without any adornment, can be transformed into a thing of beauty with a wreath of flowers. Some fences act as a de facto trellis, offering support for vining plants, while others are complimented by plants planted along their base. When dressing up a fence, white fences or wooden fences made from reclaimed wood work best, conjuring up a rustic cottage garden ethos. Flowering vines can also be used to obscure eyesores such as a chain-link fence. 

Here are some of the best plants for a fence line that will bring joy and laughter into your life. 

 

1. Hollyhocks        

Hollyhocks are dashingly handsome plants that are the life of the party: they make good companions for most perennials, meshing delightfully with taller cottage-garden favorites like foxgloves and lupines, as well as low-growing varieties such as bee balm, black-eyed Susan, and coneflowers. For a teeming garden that brings to mind the English countryside, plant these flowers en masse along fence lines, buttressed by the towering stalks of hollyhocks. 

2. Morning Glories 

Morning glories can be a diabolical spreader, but this trait is used to the gardener’s advantage when they’re trained to clamber onto fences, creating a blindingly beautiful effect. Let them drape over a back fence like velvet to showcase their full glory. They’re incredibly versatile and can be integrated into a variety of surfaces, no matter how hideous: deck woodwork, chain-link fences, and wrought-iron. 

3. Pink Muhly Grass

Ornamental grasses of any sort add substantial texture, but what makes pink muhly grass so appealing is its rustic pink inflorescence. It’s also one of these plants that require a specific type of fence – brutally aggressive facades like chain-link are out of luck. Fences with a slightly unrefined quality, like a split-rail fence, provide the perfect backdrop. Golden ornamental grass contrasts nicely with white picket fences. 

4. Endless Summer® Hydrangea

The flowers of choice for the wealthy, few flowers have the languorous beauty or the visceral impact of hydrangeas. Endless Summer® Hydrangea’s claim to fame is its magical abundance of mophead blooms – much frillier than panicle varieties. It definitely takes work and persistence to create a wall of hydrangeas, but it’s worth it for the deeply romantic borders it creates. For the classic blue color seen gracing many great houses, maintain a slightly soil pH between 5 – 5.5. 

5.  Sunflowers 

It’s not easy to brighten a garden when working with a limited color palette, especially when dealing with such a divisive color as yellow – but sunflowers add bold impact to the landscape. Sunflowers are cheerful flowers that stand out without feeling juvenile. With petals a deep red, the 'Velvet Queen' variety exudes glamor and intrigue; 'Autumn Beauty', which boasts flowerheads painted with the hues of autumn, is almost as iconic as the pumpkin spice latte.   

6. ‘Peggy Martin’ Rose

From the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, this tenacious rose arose, the alone survivor in a garden of more than 400 roses. Full of vigor, it takes more than the vagaries of the weather to put it six feet under. ‘Peggy Martin’ is tough as nails, perfect for adorning fences, trellises, and walls. Plant in a well-drained spot and fertilize twice a year. Provide supplemental water during dry spells. 

7. Azaleas 

Azaleas, when used as a privacy hedge, creates a floriferous screen of gorgeous blooms that seem like something where Snow White might live. The classic southern plant, they nicely frame wrought-iron and older, weathered stone facades. These flowers are too lovely to only bloom in the springtime – reblooming types like Ever After™ Ruby Azalea bloom again in summer and fall. 

8. Coral Honeysuckle

A drab fence line calls for coral honeysuckle, a non-invasive alternative to exotic honeysuckles. Though it lacks fragrance, its masses of tubular flowers will attract a phalanx of hummingbirds and other key pollinators. 'Scentsation' honeysuckle, whose scent is strongest at night, is a great alternative for those seeking a fragrant variety.  

9. Royal Cape® Plumbago

Those who eye their chain-link fence with loathing won’t need to worry about it once they install the Royal Cape® plumbago, which obscures it beautifully with periwinkle clouds of delicate blooms. Pruning is recommended for profuse flowering; use the 30% rule (pruning back one-third of its growth) as guidance.  

10. Foxgloves 

Towering in effusive spikes, foxgloves eagerly flank white picket fences as the quintessential cottage-garden plant. Although they can tolerate full sun, they benefit from partial shade. Plant white daisies underneath for a layered look.   

11. Blue Chiffon® Rose of Sharon

The flowers of Rose of Sharon are beautiful, but the plant is notoriously invasive. With Blue Chiffon® Rose of Sharon, its invasiveness is restrained due to its low-seed set. Even better, it blooms in a breathtaking shade of blue-lavender, which is a marked improvement from the usual insipid pink. Grow along a fence border for masses of dainty flowers – it’s able to tolerate partial shade. 

12. Purple Explosion™ Lilyturf

Although more commonly used as groundcovers, a line of purple lilyturf is ideal for those that want visual appear, but not tons of it. This wiry, tough perennial is suitable for filling in unforgiving gaps. It reaches a compact size of up to 12 in tall and can be supplemented with lavender, another purple-tinted plant.