Boundary changes

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR WHEN you can't switch on the TV without seeing adverts about some sort of miraculous spray-on fence paint. Attacking the fence with a can is portrayed as a relaxing way to spend a spring day – it seems we should all be rushing out to paint our fences a shade of dysentery brown. But are stained fence panels really the best way to enclose our gardens? Definitely not, says garden designer Jenny Hendy. Her new book, Creative Ideas for Walls, Fences, Hedges & Bounda

That's not to say she's against fencing altogether, pointing out that it can be an instant, relatively inexpensive way to provide privacy and shelter, while taking up hardly any space. "Often in the garden you might have mismatched fencing panels and it's expensive to rip them all out and replace them," she says. "But you can get rolls of heather or brushwood screening which are quite dark and natural looking, and it's quick and easy to put up using a staple gun." If you live in a more rural area, she suggests hazel hurdles for a real country cottage style.

But why are most of us so keen to fence off our neighbours? "There are issues of security, but I also think you feel so much more relaxed when you've got that little bit of privacy," she says. Hendy is keen to stress that boundaries can do more than keep out prying eyes. With clever planting, even a small garden can be made to feel like a much bigger space. "Often people have fences and they have the planted border rigidly adhering to those," says Hendy. "But if you can make the borders more curved and pull them well away from the fence, then plant them really richly and deeply, it has this wonderful effect of hiding the boundaries and, therefore, your brain can't calculate how big the garden is."

There's a lot to be said for boundaries that consist of plants rather than solid materials. Hedges provide shelter and food for wildlife, as well as adding colour, texture and even fragrance across the seasons. Leylandii hedging has a terrible reputation for growing faster than its owners can keep up with, but Hendy says that if you are prepared to put in the work of trimming three times a year, it can be kept to a manageable size. "If you want something that is a bit better behaved but still a conifer, I'd choose Thuja, which smells like pear drops," she says.

Hedging plants can be chosen to suit your local area – mixed native hedging looks good in a rural setting, while Hendy recommends mop-head hydrangeas or silver-leaved sea buckthorn for coastal gardens. Classic hedge plants such as yew, holly and box are easily trimmed to a particular size or shape, making them look good in a formal setting. One alternative to a hedge which also works well on windy sites involves planting a shelter belt consisting of a mix of trees and shrubs of different heights. This will help block out noise as well as wind. Close-planting trees such as rowan, silver birch and pine can make an effective screen in three or four years, and inter-planted with evergreens such as laurel and holly, native woodland and hedgerow plants like hazel, field maple and blackthorn and garden plants such as cotoneasters and shrub roses, you can create an effective barrier that's also very attractive. And if you have an interesting view beyond your garden, don't forget to leave gaps in the planting so it can be seen.

Should you decide to go for a wall rather than a hedge or fence, Hendy says it's important to create a link from the wall to the house or local area. "I think you've got to really look around you when you're choosing materials or boundary treatments," she says. "Try to fit in with the vernacular materials and the style of what's around you." But if your budget doesn't stretch to walls made from local stone, there are alternatives. "What you can do is use elements of the natural walling to create strips or bands within the wall," says Hendy. "So just use ordinary breeze blocks, and render it leaving panels of natural stone or brick to show through. That can look really stylish."

Whether you opt for trellis, hazel hurdles or a brick wall, climbing plants can add extra interest. Hendy says that she has a large-leafed ivy covering the brick wall of her garage, and it's currently home to lots of bird nests. "Many people think that ivy is bad for walls, but it doesn't damage modern mortar at all and if anything, it helps protect the wall and keeps it drier," she says. "Although it is a bit badly-behaved and you do have to go up a ladder once a year and give it a good haircut."

There are all sorts of finishing effects that can liven up walls and boundaries that are looking past their best – a fence could be painted a dark colour, then a paler coloured trellis façade could go on top; ceramic tiles can be added to walls or coloured lights used to liven them up in the evening. You could even put a window in your walls or hedges. "It would be a bit much putting a window between you and your neighbours, but if there is somewhere that you can make an aperture in an internal screen, that can be lined up with something like a sculpture or pot beyond, it immediately draws the eye and gives a wonderful focus to the garden," says Hendy. "I'm a firm believer in setting up these theatrical stage sets."

So if your garden is currently encased in old fence panels, why not ditch the wood stain and set about making your garden boundaries as decorative as they are practical? sm

Creative Ideas for Walls, Fences, Hedges & Boundaries by Jenny Hendy is published by Southwater, priced £6.99.