My Garden

Should i paint my wooden fence green.

Last post 09-05-2006 1:33 PM by anthemis. 9 replies.

• 08/05/2006 09:44 AM

  Renate Location: Joined on: 08 May 2006 Posts: 5

  Reply | Contact We have a fence marking the boundary of our garden. It is made of the cheap interwoven slates of wood. I have noticed that the tv-gardeners (Alan Titchmarsh, Monty Don et al) apply colour to these sort of fences - mostly green. As a test, I applied a fence preserver called 'rustic green' on one of the fence penals. It is very dark, blackish-green, and I cannot see that is an improvement on the 'wood' colour of the bought panels. So, I am very confused as to the purpose of painting the panels and whether I should use this 'rustic green' on the remaining fence around the garden. I am worried that i will 'destroy' the fence by making it look awful. what should i do? (FYI i am later going to be planting in front of all the fences - 1 to 3 meter mixed boarders)

• 08/05/2006 09:58 AM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact Hi Renate, all the wooden structures in our garden are painted green (sheds, trellis, archway, fence panels). Personally I went for green as to me is seems more garden like. I use B&Q's Forest Green. The purpose of the paint is that is has a preserver mixed in with it to protect the wood from rotting and when the colour fades it will need repainting. I didn't get round to repainting mine last year so I must do it this year. sue1002

• 08/05/2006 10:20 AM

  In reply to

  Renate Location: Joined on: 08 May 2006 Posts: 5

  Reply | Contact hi sue, thanks for your advice. i do understand that wood need regular painting but do you have any idea why the 'orange-wood' colour that i currently have is so out of fashion (or so it appears to me from what they say on gardeners world)? Do you think that your plants are better seen against the green fences that you have? One of my concerns on painting green is that the garden will feel smaller, as it is a darker colour than the 'orange-wood' colour. Any thoughts on this?

• 08/05/2006 12:01 PM

  In reply to

  sue1002 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk Joined on: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 5,200

  Reply | Contact Hi Renate, I go by what I like as opposed to what is in fashion. Have taken a couple of pictures so you can see what the plants look like against a green background, obviously a brighter colour of flower will have a bigger impact [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d134/Sue1002/IMAG000216.jpg[/IMG] When the buddleja comes into flower there will be a lovely display of purple against it. If I had taken the photo a couple of days ago the Spirea was a mass of white then. [IMG]http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d134/Sue1002/IMAG000117.jpg[/IMG] The Photinia is a lovely contrast. Just in case anyone thinks I am daft, we had to make the little fence in front when the dog was small to stop her digging out the soil, and now it is keeping her son off as well. sue1002

• 08/05/2006 03:18 PM	In reply to
  Renate Location: Joined on: 08 May 2006 Posts: 5	Reply | Contact The green does look nice.Maybe i should just go ahead and paint it all green while my husband is at work (he was not convinced after i had painted the first panel)... ;-) Thanks again for your advice.

• 08/05/2006 04:51 PM	In reply to
  anthemis Location: Joined on: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 317	Reply | Contact But if neither of you were very keen either when you 'd done a bit why do more? Don't risk a mighty marital row over a fence!!! I must admit that in spite of the TV programmes I prefer to see wood in wood colours but its a personal choice. You can get the fence preservatives in brown shades. Ideally the fence would be hidden by plants!

• 08/05/2006 04:52 PM	In reply to
  Renate Location: Joined on: 08 May 2006 Posts: 5	Reply | Contact Dear anthemis - don't worry there is no dangers of any mighty marital rows. My husband just thinks that i am mad (to consider painting a new fence) and a slave to every word of Monty Don.

• 08/05/2006 10:58 PM	In reply to
  anthemis Location: Joined on: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 317	Reply | Contact I thought it was usually considered a good idea to give new fences a coat of preservative as the treatment as sold is not usually that good and it's often quite easy to get at the fence when its just gone up. Mr Don is [b]not[/b] one of the gardeners that inspires us in our house so I am with your OH in that!

• 09/05/2006 10:34 AM	In reply to
  Renate Location: Joined on: 08 May 2006 Posts: 5	Reply | Contact Oh...didn't know that. So if painting still needs doing, the heavy burden of colour choice still rests on me. However, thanks for all your advice, and i hope we can all agree to like Carole Klein, even if there is some disagreement on the merits of Monty.

• 09/05/2006 01:33 PM	In reply to
  anthemis Location: Joined on: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 317	Reply | Contact [b]Posted by:[/b] i hope we can all agree to like Carole Klein, even if there is some disagreement on the merits of Monty. Yes I like her, she's a real plantswoman!