by Glory Lennon

Created on: September 01, 2007   Last Updated: October 10, 2008

When one thinks organic one usually pictures being in tune with nature, totally natural, free of harsh chemicals, nothing manmade nor plastic. When one thinks of fencing one may picture the typical white picket, the un-inspired chain link, the extremely costly wrought iron, the severe brick or stone monsters of stately homes or the rustic split rail. So what exactly is organic fencing? And, more importantly, why would you want to go that way?

Organic fencing merely means using shrubs, trees and flowers in place of traditional fencing. Why would you want to do this? For exactly the same reasons you'd want to put up any other kind of fence. Perhaps you want privacy between you and a neighbor or you simply want to keep their dog out of your yard. Maybe there is an unsightly something you'd rather not see or there's a noisy road that you'd like to block out of hearing. It could be you want dividers within your landscape to creating garden rooms, separating garden beds or to soften an already existing and possibly ugly fence. It just so happens all of these reasons were mine for doing what I did with this so-called organic fencing.

My new neighbor was a thoroughly nice guy, his dog and wife, not so much. As my kids were little and I still liked them I chose to block out Mr. Nice Guy and his frantically barking and frightening puppy. Six 8 foot tall Colorado Blue Spruce trees were planted in two staggering lines completely doing the job. The benefit of these quickly growing trees is they made the perfect place for birds to build their nests. How much more organic can you get than that? They also kept the dog away from my kids and I no longer had to see Mr. Nice Guy's scowling wife. The trees even muffled her angry screams to her husband and grandchildren.

In the orchard we had an ugly though useful field fence to keep deer out but as it was not pretty, I didn't want to see it. We planted Rhododendrons along this fence. It served two purposes. The deer couldn't see through the thick evergreen shrubs. This kept the deer from seeing my ripening fruit which would entice them to do anything to get at them. Not being able to see through the Rhododendrons made them wary of jumping into the unknown. The shrubs grew quickly to totally obliterate the fence so I didn't see it anymore.

In the back yard I wanted a sanctuary away from the world. I needed something to enclose it and to keep the sometimes harsh wind down. I wanted it soft and natural to attract wildlife, airy enough

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