Aha! It's 20" tall, and expands to 197". At full expansion it would be much shorter, so you're probably better off not burying it. Though that depends how short a fence you want. If you don't like the aluminum fasteners that come with it, you could use almost any sort of stake; for something inexpensive and non-rotting, maybe some of those plastic garden stakes, cut to the height you need; attach the fence with wire. As to how to cut the fence to size, normal garden pruners should work fine. If you decide you prefer to put the bottom of the fence in the ground, just dig a narrow trench, insert the fence, then fill in around it.

Olga, Lori, Patricia, Ann, Bboy, Jeri, Ron, Scardan, Jon, Catsrose, Dave, Geo and Mad Gallica (and anyone I missed): Thanks for your kind help and the suggestions! The purpose of the hedge is to help frame my small front yard. I have yews out there right now (so it's not that interesting anyway year-round) with deutzia and salvia in front of them. I live in an urban city with lots of foot traffic. The yard is bounded by 2 long driveways -- mine and my neighbors, and there's a walkway leading from the sidewalk to my front door, and a path from the driveway to my front door. The drives are narrow and "Keep out" hedging here would be very unneighborly for getting in/out of the car. I was hoping for a little more privacy so I could maybe put a bench in the yard. But not so much privacy that someone would feel free to take a seat or could try to break in undeterred. We spend most of summer out back, so it would be nice if it's fairly easy to maintain in the summer and pretty in the spring. That's why I thought of gallicas and other OGRs. That's the truth, and the justification I'm giving my husband. The real, real underlying reason for the hedge, though, is that I'm running out of room for roses and I want to help the Vintage cause, too, so if/when I ever get more room in actual beds, I'll still have a few places to go for roses. If I have to, I'll hedge them along the very back of the back yard, too. Thanks for the Rugosa suggestions -- the thorny security would be appreciated back there. The ideal height would be about 4-6 feet. Shorter in front, taller on the sides. I already have Alain Blanchard and Belle de Crecy and suckers and a grafted Tuscany Superb. I have grafted Belle sans Flaterie and Belle Sultan on reserve from Pickering (and though I could switch them over, I'd hate to hurt one nursery to help another). I'll definitely check out Ipsalante, Glorie de France, Beau Narcisse, Jenny Duval, Rosa Mundi and the Apothecary rose and Belle Herminie at Vintage. Since a couple of you mention Charles de Mills as a bully, he will not be welcome. Maybe two or three of the others, though, would mix very well. That Jacques Cartier hedge sounds glorious... maybe I could try that for the space between the sidewalk and the street for more constant color that people will more immediately see. Thanks also for gorgeous picture and the inspiration and the idea about the clematis! Mildew really isn't a problem, except with Leda (who wouldn't be in there) and Belle de Crecy. But I also don't spray for it. Has anyone found a way to control the suckering? Does lining the hole with landscape fabric work? Thanks again

I did one in nellie stevens holly and it was stunning. Took a few years to grow, but NS is fast growing for a holly. Bird friendly, evergreen and super dense and tough. Drought tolerant, and I never touched the things after they were planted. They just flourished. I have many animals and no problems with that but zero goat experience. Another upside is that they are a bit prickly and stiff so discourage passing through by either larger animals or people. The first thing I bought for my new yard was seven nellie stevens, of all the zillions of plants I lost. Also I had a couple of fence hedges using various Eleganus. They can be very nice, evergreen, thick, etc but require maintenance with either issues of pruning, scales on one, aphids. I had too much land to deal with that. I liked them but didn't love them. Hope that helps.

Do you mean they're planning to dye your cat's fur, Lisa?? Or was that a joke/ did I misunderstand? I'm sorry to suddenly get all serious on you all in the midst of this light-hearted discussion, but if it's anything remotely like some commercial human hair dyes they use for this, I'd be extremely reluctant to allow such potentially harmful chemicals to go anywhere near my precious pet... and I'm well aware of what a very caring and responsible pet parent you are. I freely admit, I am pretty upset and angry about the massive number of unnecessary chemical compounds commonly sold and used so trustingly in our modern society, whose immediate and long-term, individual and aggregated toxic potentials are frequently unknown and unregulated. The basic reason is that my own lifetime of disabling neurological illness was originally triggered by exposure to chemically treated carpet in our home as a schoolgirl back in the 1960s, waking up one morning semi-paralysed... very nasty, scary stuff, all perfectly legal at the time... and my poor parents had no idea there'd be any harm in it when they were persuaded by the carpet salesman how great a thing this treatment was... Everyone thinks, if it's out there, it must be safe... But not everyone will be affected, and animals, children and young people can be especially vulnerable... ...Again, my apologies if I got the wrong end of the stick or if I'm going a bit over the top here, Lisa, and/or if you know for a fact these are very safe, natural colours they use (although I'd still want to know if they'd been tested on captive lab animals, like cats, dogs, and rabbits... sorry again if I'm causing any offence to anyone...) Dyeing one's pet's fur sounds like such a cute, amusing idea. But please do investigate and make absolutely sure it's safe, and don't just take someone's word for it.