Fences

A blue sky, mysterious shadows and a fine fence do wonders for the winter garden. Long after the last love-lie-bleeding, has wilted to a wimpy stain, a fence will stand like a bull, guarding the garden.

Fences work so much magic in the frigid landscape. In the front yard their most basic function is to keep cement footed thugs from trampling precious plants. How many times can Japanese cobra lily be stomped upon and still survive? A serious looking fence will quash those corner cutters and protect your plants.

But what fences really do is add beauty and backbone to the garden.

I sprinted out recently on a frosty but sunny winter day to do a quick fences census. In short order I found fences made of iron and wood with pickets, posts and arbors, arches and birdhouses attached. They all added immensely to the architecture of the gardens they enclosed.

In the older sections of cities picket fences still have a strong sentimental hold. They no longer need to keep livestock out of the kitchen garden, but just might slow down the dim-witted foraging of urban wildlife like raccoons and opossums.

Picket fences are of course, the perfect, romantic structure for hosting old-fashioned roses, climbing hydrangea and blowsy clematis.

In contrast to pickets, iron fences seem more stern, more permanent and more formal. Some designs have a very enchanting lightness and cast delicate shadows whenever the winter sun makes a bashful appearance.

In my unscientific survey, most fences had a vertical focus, but the free-thinking designers at Earth Inc. in Toronto (www.goearthinc.com) are going horizontal.

"We are using more horizontal detailing and getting away from the vertical approach," says James Dale, co-owner of the company. "We've used thin metal strapping, wire, wood woven like European wattle fences."

The portfolio section of Earth Inc's website (www.goearthinc.com) demonstrates how creative the designers are with fencing.

"Horizontal detail changes the look of the garden dramatically," says Dale. "It draws the eye along the width of the garden, it really helps on a small property."

Visitors to Canada Blooms three years ago will remember Earth Inc's award winning garden featuring fences or walls made of stacked firewood. It was enchanting and appealed to the hunter-gatherer in us all. A recent fence the company designed for a country garden uses sections of old barn beams stacked between rusted I beams. Dale describes it as whimsical, solid, and eye catching in the winter. He cautions though, "Remember, good fences make good neighbors. In the city especially you have to approach fences in a way that isn't offensive."

Darren Schmahl of the Copper Leaf Garden Store (www.thecopperleaf.com) in Jordan agrees. His design company Outdoor Images builds fences that are "solid, functional, but understated."

And you get what you pay for according to Schmahl. "A basic pressure treated fence, with lattice at the top will cost about $15 a linear foot. Start using cedar, and putting in six by six inch posts and the costs triple."

Custom ironwork becomes pricey too according to Schmahl, but the decorative possibilities are very attractive. "I just put in a gate two days ago at my house. I designed it based on a spider web, and had an artist make it. It's wonderful."

It's comforting to know you can conjure up whimsy and wonder in the winter garden by using a structure originally designed to keep goats from eating the greens.