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roselee_gw

What we did with the chain link fence ...

During the recent twice yearly trash pickup one of my neighbors put out a couple of pieces of new white plastic lattice. They were about 2 ft x 4 ft and of course I picked them up. One man's trash is another man's treasure, right?

I carried them around the yard, placed them here and then there trying to decide what I could have Bob to build using them. All of a sudden I got the bright idea of covering the chain link fence with lattice.

I have to admit that chain link is a good permanent fence. I have wonderful neighbors, they keep their yards looking nice, and I enjoy our conversations over the back fence, but pretty -- the fence is not. I wonder if a couple of hundred years from now neighborhood chain link fences will be considered cute and quaint? I don't think so :-)

Well, anyway here is the result. I think it frames the garden nicely and gives the yard a sort of cottage garden look without the greater expense of the proverbial white picket fence.

It was easy to install using 8 inch white plastic cable ties.

Maybe some others here have some ideas about what 'to do' with a chain link fence. Some of my neighbors grow thick vines on them like honey suckle or Boston ivy. Others weave what looks like aluminum strips through the wire, or they attach rolls of bamboo. I have one section covered with Confederate jasmine which I really like, but for a quick fix that is relatively inexpensive (and doesn't need to be watered ...LOL) I'm pleased with the look of lattice.

Comments (36)

  • cynthianovak
    13 years ago

    Soooo Pretty!

    BRAVO!

  • plantmaven
    13 years ago

    Looks good. That would have cost me a forune at my former home.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you Cynthia!

    Thanks Kathy. Yes, if you have several acres I guess it would. The lattice costs about $18.00 for a four by eight foot panel. It comes in a dark green color and also tan and brown. The colored ones were $23.00 a panel. There are also long narrow pieces in all the colors that go over the top and bottom edges and some that connect the ends. We didn't use them.

  • holleygarden Zone 8, East Texas
    13 years ago

    What a great idea! It looks so good. This is one of those ideas that you wonder why no one has ever thought of before (o.k., maybe they have, but I haven't seen it done).

    I'm going to go around suggesting this to everyone I know that has a chain link fence! lol Thanks for sharing.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    You're welcome Holly!

    I know. I keep slapping my forehead wondering why *I* didn't think of it before. I'm just grateful to the neighbor that put those scrape pieces out for me to haul home.

  • trsinc
    13 years ago

    Oh Ragna, that looks so great!! It fits perfectly with your garden.

    Makes me wish I had a chain link fence. When our privacy fence plays out I may just get chain link. They certainly last a lot longer.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks Tammy! It goes nicely with the wrought iron plant stands, furniture, bird houses, etc. that I spray painted white early this year.

  • rock_oak_deer
    13 years ago

    That looks really good, so perfect with the yard. Great idea, I'll bet the neighbors like it too!

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I appreciate your comments Shirley. Yes, the neighbors on both sides really like it. Of course, we asked them before we did it if it would be okay and they said yes.

  • melvalena
    13 years ago

    I certainly makes it look more finished. I really like it better than all the other methods of covering a chain link fence. If eventually you do get some vines growing on it, it won't hurt it at all.

    If for some reason it gets damaged its easy to replace too.

    Great use of those lattice panels.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you Melva. Glad you like it. Some of those were my thoughts also, easy to replace a panel if a part of it got damaged.

    BTW, we did the gates as well. I spray painted the metal parts around the gate white on my side. I also sprayed painted the top metal railing on my side white which finished off the top neatly, especially looking at it from a distance. One could also put the pieces along the top made for that purpose, but to tell the truth I didn't even notice they had them before we were already half finished.

  • Lynn Marie
    13 years ago

    That turned out really well! Great job!

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    13 years ago

    Looks great! The white really makes your garden pop!

  • pjtexgirl
    13 years ago

    You can nail the panels to a privacy fence as a trellis.

  • Texan Gal
    13 years ago

    Roselee, I used cable ties in my garden on fencing, and after a year they started giving way. I think the hot Texas sun and cold winter might not have been too kind to them. Just an idea, but you might want to go back through with wire and attach it here and there, just in case your cable ties give way in future.

    I think the lattice looks great in your garden!

    Heather

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks everyone for your comments! I feel it turned out well and it does make the garden 'pop' and look more complete with the visual border it provides. Great idea also about using it for a vine trellis on a wood privacy fence.

    Heather, I appreciate the warning that the cable ties might not hold up. I'll be watching them closely in case they need to be replaced by wire.

  • angie83
    12 years ago

    I did this I love butterflys so i made butterfly garden.
    {{gwi:131081}}
    {{gwi:15946}}
    {{gwi:132064}}
    {{gwi:15946}}
    {{gwi:2757}}

  • Ann_in_Houston
    12 years ago

    It looks really nice and complements the style of your garden well. I used to want to put up a chain link fence and line with lattice but we have an acre with two sides of it facing the road; lots of linear feet. I wanted to use the green kind and also get the straight criss-crosses rather than the diagonal pattern, just 'cause I'm weird like that. Too many $$$, though, so I didn't do it. Yours looks fantastic, though.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks for your comments Ann. Yes, lattice could get expensive if you have many linear feet of chain link fence. I wonder if someone else has tried something less expensive; maybe just a three board fence like some large ranches might have? Behind them the chain link would tend to disappear. Anybody here have any ideas of what could be used to simulate the look of wooden boards and be less expensive than lumber or composite boards?

    Angie, I like how you've used your solid board fence to be a backdrop of a butterfly plant garden. I've seen your crafts on other forums and like how you've used the little people to cover the containers that have butterfly larva plants. What were the containers originally? I wish my passion vines were as large as yours already. The gulf frits are here, but the vines are not large enough to support them. I tried growing passions vines in containers to keep them from spreading and they don't like to be confined so I'm just getting them started in an out of the way place in the the ground. Thanks for posting your pictures.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Google images of three and four board fences.

  • angie83
    12 years ago

    Saddly thats last years pic of my passionflowers they eat to ground here be a while before they kick back I have over 100 plants and they still get eat to ground hehehe
    Here is this years poor things

  • pjtexgirl
    12 years ago

    I like that can planters a lot. Poor passi vines all et up!

  • Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
    12 years ago

    What kind of cable ties/zip ties did you use? Were the UV stable or UV resistant? The reason I ask is that I used some in various projects in my yard. Mine hardly lasted for even half the summer because the sunlight breaks them down so quickly. After about six months or more, they just crumbled.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    'Love the Yard', I just grabbed them off the shelf at Lowes not even considering whether they were UV resistant, but upon doing a search just now I see that all the UV resistant ties are black. I've used black cable ties on outside projects before and they've lasted for years, but of course the ones I got for the lattice are white.

    So thanks everybody for the heads up. This useful information is not only appreciated by me, but by anyone else reading this who is considering doing outside projects with cable ties. I'll look for some white covered wire to have on hand for when the white cable ties start to give out.

    Angie, the eaten to the stem Passion vines are a satisfying sight to a butterfly gardener. It means the Gulf fritillary caterpillars have been using them and we'll have lots more butterflies in the immediate vicinity :-)

  • sunnyca_gw
    12 years ago

    So it must have been more than a couple of lattice pieces as that's a good looking fence now!! Goes so well with the blue pots & shows off the greenery in garden. I used those white ties on my shade cloth & it only lasted couple of months. I think most hardware stores have white coated wire, maybe even Home Depot or Lowe's & if you put few pieces on now in 4 corners will have less work when they start falling off. Don't want to have to redo whole thing. Jan

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Jan, that is EXCELLENT advice! And thanks for your comments :-)

  • josephene_gw
    8 years ago

    Great idea, roselee. Looks great.

    Out here in NM they have a lot of concrete block fences.

    Have cedar fence myself. Often wished people would use

    Lattice on the concrete block.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Thank you Josephene. My Mom used to life in Albuquerque so I remember those solid concrete block plastered fences well. At that time, way back in the 60s, it was law that all houses had to be stucco.

  • trbrmc
    8 years ago

    That's a very nice look and you're right, it gives it a nice little cottage courtyard look.

  • cindybnbigd
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    If anyone will donate any garden seeds flowers, etc , I will greatly appreciate it. I'm doing gardening so will need all the help I can get. Lol I'm a recent amputee, but now all I have is time to work on my new garden my first ever.!. I have nothing to trade except postage so please advise if you do have anything im interested in

  • cindybnbigd
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    What i would owe, i meant above lol. like I said, I will greatly appreciate any help please mail to 12 813 Jupiter Road apartment 1027 Dallas Texas 75238. please advise of any amounts that I would owe, etc. Thanks so much... Am in region 8 Dallas area

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    8 years ago

    Hi Cindybinbigd, welcome to the forum. You really shouldn't post your address in a public forum.

    What are you interested in?


  • TxMarti
    8 years ago

    Agree Cindybinbigd, you should edit out your address from that post.

    There is a seed exchange forum on gardenweb you might want to check out too. But use caution and check out your exchange partner. I've never done an exchange there but I've read some complaints.

    Seed exchange

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    8 years ago

    Right, always get the postage up front :-)

  • sunnyca_gw
    8 years ago

    I'm in Ca. but replied to this post some time ago. Someone mentions other colors of lattice. I thought I would paint some wood lattice Hunter green some years ago & was I upset to discover- most of the birds poop white stuff. It doesn't look good on green, brown or black. It needs repainting this year so it will be white!! I'm sick of looking at the mess. Just a warning to others that you don't want to put out a lot of money & they have a fence showing poop bird do. Sorry, no way to say it nice.


  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    Sunnyca, thank you! That's an excellent tip from a voice of experience.

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