One of my clients with a shady back yard had tried for years to get a row of Rhododendrons to grow tall enough to break up a long stretch of wood fencing, but those darn shrubs just wouldn’t grow fast enough for him.

Plus, while Rhododendrons are beautiful when covered in spring blooms, all they can offer the rest of the year is a green leafy backdrop.

The solution? We decided to install some hanging baskets on the posts in the bare areas, so we could plant colorful annual flowers until the Rhododendrons grew another three feet.

Fence containers

Some of the best plant performers for these shady fence containers have been Dragon Wing Begonias, Golden Creeping Jenny, Vining Coleus, and Impatiens.

We used plastic hanging pots with self-irrigating water reservoirs, so plants wouldn’t get thirsty between my weekly visits to water and fertilize. Other than that, all this project required was sturdy brackets (available at most hardware stores), wood screws, and a drill.

To do this yourself, simply mark the location of the brackets with a pencil, allowing for the length of the hanging container, and drill pilot holes to make driving in the screws easier.

Grow bag planters

Another client with a chain link fence surrounding her shady yard faced a similar dilemma. She had a love-hate relationship with her fence, loving that it kept her dog safe, but hating the look of the chain link, which she felt detracted from her garden.

The solution? Hanging grow bag planters over the top of the fence to brighten up the perimeter of the garden with long-blooming annuals.

These plastic grow bags are inexpensive and easy to install. Simply fill with potting soil and tuck flowers into planting holes. Flowers will quickly cover the plastic bags if all the holes are planted, but every other hole can be planted with similar results for those of us on a tight budget.

Impatiens work well for shady fencelines, as pictured here, but other annuals like Begonias and Vining Coleus also perform well. For sunnier fences, Petunias, Million Bells, Verbena, Lantana, Begonias, and Scaveola all work well in these planters. Water thoroughly to ensure the plants towards the bottom of the bags get enough moisture. To dress up the front and back sides of a fence, as pictured here, simply hang two grow bags, one on each side of the fence.

Other ideas for a boring fence

These are just two ideas to brighten up a boring fenceline. You can buy many other products. Like plastic brackets that hold the lip of a pot. This makes it appear like the pot is magically suspended in mid-air, or wrought iron brackets with rings of different sizes to accommodate various containers. You can install living wall or vertical- style planters on fences. Or think outside the box and reuse objects lying around your house like crates, buckets, and baskets. Whatever you decide to use, be sure it has drainage holes and mount it securely. Wet soil gets heavy!