I would plant a honey locust tree. The thorns look pretty menancing. We have planted the thornless kind before since they are fast growers. I'm not sure what the downfalls of the thorny kind are.

The honey locust tree is so dangerous that if the kids did hurt themselves you might be liable. My brother lost an eye to the thorn on a honey locust when he was 4.

I assume that you have talked to their parents and expressed your concern?

Pyracantha is a good, thorny shrub. I have them planted outside my bedroom windows as a "deterrant" to whatever might seek to gain entrance. I don't do anything to them. But, I would definitely warn the folks next door what you intend to do so the kids will be aware of them.

Susan

There are a number of plants that are thorny! I didn't see if you said what the light conditions are there. Sunny? Shady?

Fairy rose is pretty and thorny :)

Barberry bushes.

I would think about it a little bit though. You have to live with the bushes too. Every time my Fairy rose grabs me I mutter underneath my breath. If I have to work around it, I look like I've been in a cat fight.

I would suggest talking with the parents and the kids, asking them not to climb the fence. Would you be willing to let them come around and enter the fence to get the toys?

Hey, can deer fence be used as an application here? Anyone know?

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Barberry bush

Faythkhoo, Locust trees would not be my choice because the thorny ones can be dangerous, and I especially would not plant them along that fence line if the electric lines run along that fence line because they were be dangerous for electric linemen when they're working on the lines. We have acreage in the country and the locusts that were on our property when we bought it have been hard, and in fact, almost impossible, to eradicate. They are very tough trees and I'd never put a thorny one anywhere near our house or yard. They pop up all over the place and we're forever cutting them down, digging them out, etc. It is a never-ending chore. However, if I was going to plant a locust tree, I'd plant 'Purple Robe' because it is highly ornamental.

Susan's suggestion of pyrancantha is a good one. It is one plant that had crossed my mind, although the only folks I know who have it have had disease issues with it, including fire blight. Susan may know the name of a pyracantha cultivar that is fire blight resistant.

Since you didn't mention what kind of soil you have (clay? sand? sandy loam? rocky clay?) and whether you're dealing with an area with full sun, part sun or heavy shade, it is hard to guess what might work there for you. I'd suggest you look at the group of holly shrubs as a whole since it has members that tolerate shade and sun and everything in between, and see if you find a variety that appeals to you. They are not necessarily thorny, but some of them have some really prickly leaves. Most hollies are evergreen, and some have the bonus of producing lovely red or reddish-orange berries. I'm going to link Sooner Plant Farms website because it features plants that will do well in Oklahoma. If you go there and enter Holly in the search box it will pull up a nice selection of hollies. Many people use hollies as foundation plantings and give them a lot of pruning to keep them in the size range they prefer. We planted ours in an area where they could reach their full mature size with no pruning and they are gorgeous shrubs that never give us any trouble and really require no upkeep whatsoever after they are well-established. You would have to water them the first 2 or 3 years until they have a strong, established root system, but that would be true of anything you plant. The Chinese hollies, in particular, can have some very prickly leaves. Or, if you click on the website's Shrubs and Hedges section, you'll likely find all kinds of ideas, some thorny and some not. You likely would find many of the same plants found on the website at local nurseries unless it is tagged on the website as a Sooner Plant Farm exclusive.

I like the idea of roses with long arching canes that would rest against the fence, but roses are not necessarily low-maintenance. I had thought at first of Lady Banks Rose, though it quickly would grow taller than the fence. Unfortunately, the yellow form of Lady Banks Rose is not thorny, and the white thorned version is a lot harder to find. Lisa's suggestion of The Fairy rose is one I like because it is pretty tough and even people who have no luck with roses in general seem to be able to grow it just fine. It is a really vigorous grower and beautiful when in bloom.

Another non-thorny option would be chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus). It is a shrubby tree that spreads out very wide. Mine is about 12-15' tall, and just as wide, and it only took it a few years to get that wide. As a bonus, it has lovely flowers in summer. It would not deter kids like something thorny would, but because it is so dense and spreading, it might stop the balls and toys and kids from coming over the fence. You might see kids in the chaste tree retrieving a ball or toy stuck in it though. When I was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s someone in our neighborhood who lived on a corner planted chaste tree at that front corner of their yard to keep people from cutting across their yard and it worked well as that sort of deterrent.

I don't know if you've spoken with the kids or the parents, or if doing so would do any good. If you haven't, I'd start there. You also could tell the parents kindly, in a non-confrontational way (no use making enemies of them unless they already are bad neighbors who cause you lots of trouble) that you are getting ready to plant some plants along that fence and you will expect them to reimburse you for the cost of the plants if the kids climb the fence, jump down into the yard, and harm or destroy the plants. Just make it clear you're not looking for trouble, only alerting them to the fact that the kids need to stop coming over the top of the fence because you're going to be planting something there. I don't know if the parents will take your kind warning into consideration or not, but it might give them a financial incentive to tell the kids not to climb that fence. And, be sure to save your receipts for whatever plants you buy, and if the kids climb the fence and break the plants, go to the parents and ask for reimbursement for the damage done by their kids. Once they understand you're serious about the kids staying off the fence, maybe they'll teach the kids to come knock on your door to ask permission to enter the yard to retrieve a ball or toy.

I also think you could plant a row of a non-thorny plants like goldflame honeysuckle along the fence and within 2 or 3 years it would be a big, tall, dense hedge. It isn't thorny but it is thick and dense and the branches turn woody pretty fast. If I was a kid, I wouldn't want to climb a fence and get into a mass of the honeysuckle. It also would attract bees, which might me a kid-deterrent in and of itself. We have 'Pink Lemonade' honeysuckle on either side of the entry arbor to the veggie garden and no living creature, including deer or rabbits, have been able to make it through that dense planting to get into the garden in that spot, even before we errected a good garden fence that is over 8' tall.

Lisa, How to you mean to use the deer fencing? By putting it up on poles so it goes several feet above the existing 6' fence and maybe stops the balls and toys (and kids) from coming over the fence? I think that might work, if there are no Homeowners Association rules in faythkhoo's neighborhood that prohibit such a thing. However, deer netting doesn't deter deer at our house or dogs either. They run right through it knocking it off the poles, tearing holes in it, etc. so I think there is a chance the kids would pull down deer fencing.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Sooner Plant Farm

Here's a couple pictures of The Fairy

Dawn, yes, I meant that I wondered if deer netting could be strung up a few feet higher than the fence. But I don't suppose you can string anything up higher than a kid can throw :)

Honestly, if I liked the neighbor, I'd just ask the kids to come around through the gate and pick up what they needed. OR if I REALLY liked them, put a gate between them! A friend of mine's neighbor did that when they put in a new fence.

I have good neighbors (at the moment), but I have family that had to nail their gates closed because their neighbor would open their gate to let their dogs out. But he is an idiot that will also stand on a chair in his yard so he can see into theirs. Kids can usually be trained to respect your property, it's the adults that are usually real problems.

Lisa, I love your photos of the Fairy Rose. I used to work with a guy who grew a long row of them down his side yard, and he'd bring us girls armloads of roses in the spring. We'd all have vases of them sitting on our desks. He was just beaming when he brought in the flowers because he was so proud to be able to share them. He was a really nice man and he told me he wasn't a gardener at all but that his Fairy Rose made him feel like he was a gardener. :)

I am picturing the deer netting strung up high on poles like you also see around batting cages or golf driving ranges!

We do have a gate now between us and our neighbors to the south. Its actual purpose is to make it easier to drive cattle back into his pasture if they escape into ours, or if we find them out in the road, it might be easier to herd them up our driveway and back through that gate than to herd them all the way back up the road to his pasture. Really, though, I don't know that I can remember his cows ever getting out a single time since we moved here, and that is fairly rare around here.

Honestly, our next-door neighbors are so wonderful that we don't need a fence between us and them at all, except to keep the cattle contained. We have the best neighbors in the world, but I know everyone is not that fortunate.

Carol, We had bad neighbors on one side of us in Fort Worth, and it gave me a great appreciation for good neighbors, which we've always had, except for some members of that family.

One thing about living in a rural area is that we're so spread out we can barely see one another's houses, much less cause one another any problems, though I cannot imagine any of us doing anything that would upset the others. We have the kind of neighborhood that if someone is driving up the road and sees that somebody else's dogs are out running wild (or cows or horses or goats or whatever), they call you and let you know, and 9 times out of 10 they stick around to help you corral the unruly animal and put it back up. Good neighbors are a priceless gift.

I do agree with your statement that it usually is the adults who are the problem and not the kids. Good adults will teach their kids to respect the neighbors' property.

Dawn

You can see I have very short chain link fences :) The neighborhood pretty much is all fenced that way. I really like the friendliness of chain link. Nobody ever sees each other in the front, you drive into your garage and, poof, you have disappeared into the house.

However, you can see my neighbor has added some privacy fencing on one side, she has renters on that side and they tend to not take care of the yard, so she blocked the view :)

The neighbor who used to live behind me was very friend and took immaculate care of her yard. She's moved on though and the new owners don't care as much about the yard, which is fine, but I do not like her dogs. I am pretty sure they are pit bull/pit bull mixes and they charge the fence when I am working in the back flower bed. My neighbors tell me I should bribe them with dog treats, but so far I have just been ignoring them and praying they don't realize they could jump the fence.

I had the same problem about 25 years ago. Blackberries worked very well for me, and they produced like crazy. I dont know what kind they were but they were well armed and had huge berries.

Larry

Thank you so much for the suggestions.

As I have mentioned, we really do not have green thumbs. Therefore, I apologize for missing out some information there. It is part of the fence where it's full sun (besides when sunrises and the fence blocks the sun). As for the soil type, I'm not sure; I just know nothing grows on that soil except grass and weeds. From Lisa_H's pictures, the soil looks like that. Isn't all Oklahoma soil the same - clay type?
Our fence gate is not lock, my husband and I have told the kids numerous times the gate is not lock. The parents of those kids are those that ... "Thank you, I've got it" and yet, nothing changes. As for kids, they are not just climbing over to pick up whatever balls; they climb them as a "challenge" or fun thing to do too.
I like the roses idea. I don't want to blind someone; just make it an inconvenience to jump over that part of the fence. I'm sure my husband doesn't mind the roses especially we can claim it's for a backyard beautification and not to deter these kids.
Besides, he's only out on that part of the fence to mow the yard.
Thanks again for all the information.

There's all kinds of soil in Oklahoma, and even in some people's yards. We have acreage that is mostly dense red clay, for example, but some of our land has a band of almost pure sugar sand, and some of our soil is a sandy-clayey mix and some of it (in the woods, near the creek) is a beautiful brown sandy loam.

I know that some parts of Oklahoma have almost pure sand, others have dense clay, some have rocky clay, and some have sandy loam. If your soil is like Lisa's, I think you have clay but it would be anyone's guess whether your clay has a loamy or sandy component to it.

Good luck with the plantings, the kids (and their parents) and the fence.

Dawn

I just call mine clay :) But within the metro area I have friends that had sandy soil and another friend who had a beautiful loamy soil.

Since you are not gardeners, why not screw shelf brackets to the top of fence and string barbed wire along the brackets. If the neighbors ever move, you can remove the brackets. Lock the gate. If they want their balls, frisbees or whatever back, they can come to your door and ask for them. Since you have already talked to the family and boys, maybe they will take the hint. It CAN'T be good for your fence to have kids climbing it time and again!

Don't mean to be a meanie, just think you have a right to protect your
property.

Jeanie

Jeanie, is that legal within OKC city limits?

No doubt, one of the fence posts broke before. I think another post just broke because two panels are leaning into our yard.

Faythkhoo,
I honestly don't know the legal ins and outs of arming your fence, but it is not like you are electricfying it. There is a whole lot of difference between ripped pants and actual life-threatening devices. Sounds like you have a serious problem with these "daring" boys. Good luck! Fences are not cheap.

Jeanie