Of course, my first thought was mannerly vines to cover up the poles, but being as you don't want those, other thoughts would be mannerly climbing roses, or groundcover that would tumble over your pretty wall, or herbs!

day lilly!!

There you go, good idea!

Do you really think daylilies will do well when they are in full shade for most of the year? I have a LOT of daylilies, but they get a lot of sun. I have extras that I may move there. They need a spot and this spot needs flowers.

I can't say for sure. But if they go dormant then the shade won't bother them a bit. :)

You could put summer annuals there every year, and keep it nicely mulched the rest of the year.

Interesting challenge! One thing I'd do is paint the posts the color of the wood to help make them disappear. You might have to do that more than once as the wood fades.

Or you might cover your side of the fence with plastic lattice, or perhaps just box in the posts with lattice, to give it a cottage garden look. Then plant daylilies, etc., and/or perhaps some shrubs (old garden roses?) in front of the stone wall to break up the space a little.

You could box in the posts like this too.

I would also consider something that would trail over the sides like blue mist flower (although a bit invasive, easy to control) if this is where you can watch the butterflies. I have some in partial shade that has bloomed nicely.

You might ask your neighbor if he/she would mind hanging some window sill style baskets on it. Something low planted in the ground and then some long baskets interspersed down the fence would make for a nice look.

like these but on the wood fence:

http://image.made-in-china.com/4f0j00mBRTYKWJEibh/Antiglare-Galvanized-Steel-Fence-With-Baskets-to-Put-Flowers.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful:

You asked for suggestions on what to plant in the extra available space and we're advising on what to do with the fence! LOL

Anyway, something like asparagus fern or airplane plant would nice draping over the stone wall.

Back to the fence :-) the boxed in post on the pix above looks great. Also someone once posted rustic window frames with mirrors in the frame that she hung on a wood fence. They looked sooo good! Was it you??? I think so! LOL! Looks just like your stone wall and planter in the illustration on the link below. But the glass broke. However, there are plastic mirrors.

For any one else considering something to hang on a wood fence just a simple framed mirror would work. I bought a couple of mirrors at a yard sale for $5. I also saw some French door frames hung on a wood fence that looked good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden mirrors. Yours?

Yes, your mirrors! You are named as the author of the article. :-) See? Your garden mirrors were not forgotten! Not sure though if your mirrors were the ones that broke.

You remembered my garden mirrors! Yes, it was the same fence. They were made out of fence material so they would fade to match the old fence. And one did crack, but I kept it anyway. They are now hanging on the fence opposite this one, but they don't fit so well between the horizontal boards. I was thinking of making a couple more and staining them to match the new fence though.

Melvalena, that looks great! Do you have instructions??? We were thinking of painting the posts black because our back fence is wrought iron and painting the posts black might make it look a little better. But your idea looks a LOT better. I will show DH and hope he takes the hint.

Lattice is a good idea. I also have it on several sections of the opposite fence with various evergreen vines growing up them. I just don't want to do anything permanent to the fence until the newness wears off.

I have asparagus fern, airplane plant, and daylilies. I think I'll give them all a try and see what lives.

Keep the ideas coming!

Lynnmarie, That fence was here when we bought the place. When it came time to re do the other fences we tried to find out who built that one. No one knew, and there was no sigh anywhere on it. :(

Our fence builder did it all so I have no instructions. You and hubby are welcome to come have a look and see if you guys can figure it out. Its just wood on 3 sides. I can't say how its attached but I'll take a look in the morning.
I can also try to take some close up photos for you if you think it would help you figure it out.

Now all three fences have the boxed in posts. We don't mind at all having the ugly side. Its not the ugly side to us since the posts are all covered.

Only issue is the bottoms don't quite come to the ground so we still see the bottoms of the posts. I think I'll spray paint them and plant evergreen plants in front of each one so the bottoms won't really show at all.

My hubby won't let me plant vines on our fence either. So I installed iron trellises just in front of the fence and anchored them with re bar.

When they came to re stain the hail damage all they had to do was gently lean the trellis out and stain behind it. Almost no damage to the morning glories I'd planted on one of them. (I didn't plant the others because I knew the fence staining would be done this summer.
So in the future I won't worry about my vines it at all if we have to repair or re stain.

I love Melvalena's idea about the fence posts. I think trailing some Santolina over the edges would be pretty.

I like the idea of a container garden so it doesn't pop up into the neighbor's yard.

I like the boxes over the posts. They actually make the fence look better than a bland front side.
I assume you can do anything you wish on your side because your neighbor says it is OK?

Maybe three different types of plants, planted sequentially down the fence? Something tall or something that would drape from a planter, followed by something low like salad burnet, followed by something that will drape over the wall? Repeat the planting down the fence line.

I have had salad burnet that is happy for multiple years in shade, even to being planted under north-facing eaves. It only gets watered ever so often in our clay soil. It would like a bit more sun under those eaves but is happy under deciduous trees. Ditto with English thyme.

I like the boxes over the fence posts, too. There was a chain link fence in Dallas where someone had painted the chain link a very dark brown, built wooden boxes around the posts, and capped off the boxes with wooden roof-like caps. It looked prettily classy! Imo, chain link painted dark brown looks much nicer and blends into the landscape much better than chain link painted green! lol

Good luck with your extra six inches of yard.

Sorry I haven't had a chance to get out and take photos of how those boxes around the fence posts are attached. Will try to get it done this afternoon and post later.
But until then, perhaps posters can chime in on this plant?
I've never grown it, and I don't know what winter shade will do to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: ice plant

Here are the closeups on the pole boxes.
They are first made laying on the ground, then screwed to the horizontal boards on either side of the post: top, middle and bottom.
The tops are open as well as the bottoms. Unless you're using treated wood you shouldn't bring the box all the way to the ground.

The board on the front is about 6" wide, the side ones are a bit wider than 4". Its really dark out there now so I can't see the measuring tape too clearly, but clearly enough to get the big numbers. :)

If you still want to come see it in person, just email me via my member page.

Thanks for the pictures and description. DH is extremely handy, so he should have no problem making these himself. Well, motivation might be the only obstacle! I think it makes your side look better than the "pretty" side!

I had never seen boxes around poles before until we saw this house. Hubby said he's seen them before everywhere. Makes me wonder where he's been!

I love them. Only wish they were sturdy enough to support vines. :)

You could plant sky pencils at every pole - they would grow tall, stay within bounds and give height. Since the area between the fence and the stone wall in narrow, you could plant aspidastra or giant lirope [my favorite] and intersperse chartreuse potato vine in summer to trail over the edge. For color, you could put some large tall pots [I get mine at Lowes] and do seasonal color [summer: caladiums, grasses, impatiens, trailing ivy, torenia]. This way, you could have a formal type background with pots of changable color - the sky pencil/lirope combo would be easy to maintain and be a background for the color. You could incorporate twinkle lights hung on the fence for nighttime fun. Here are a couple of photos of my driveway strip between the fence - just an example of what you can do with just a little space. I have the pots planted for fall and added the orange rope lights during halloween and Thanksgiving. Pansies will go in after the first freeze and lighted garlands and wreaths will hang on the wrought iron fence.

That's so cute!

Yes, very nice pot decor!!!

SUNFLOWERS!!! What do you think? If I plant the 15' tall variety will they hang in there long enough to clear the 6' fence and get to the sunshine? Since they are planted close together in a "forest" (Burpee's word), they should be used to competing for the sunlight and getting little at the bottoms. At $4 a pack, it is worth a shot, right?

I don't know... looking at my fence that faces north I rarely even get weeds in the area within 6 inches of it. But, I do have a lot of trees along there.
At the old house, in the ally, that fence faced north. I grew cannas there just fine.
So maybe the sunflowers will do ok?
The cannas got full blast afternoon sun in that spot in the summer. Winter didn't matter, the cannas were asleep then.

I can't find a photo with the cannas.. but here it is late winter with just the artemisia planted along the outside of it.

ahh.. found one:

That is absolutely gorgeous! I didn't want to do cannas because they spread. (And I have a stand of them at the bottom, so it might be too much.) Was trying to avoid anything that would run under the fence and be happier on his side than mine. Not that I don't mind sharing, I just want to make sure I have plenty of pretty too!

I wasn't suggesting cannas, just pointing out that if cannas would grow there and thrive _maybe_ your sunflowers would too.
But cannas don't really need as much sun as sunflowers do.
I have them grow and even bloom a little in shade.
What would you put there the rest of the year?

I have some Wooly Thyme that is in a big pot(about 22" tall) with another plant, and the thyme has draped over the side almost to the ground. I'll get a picture later

It is on the north side as well and only gets sun in summer...thyme isn't too picky. Only downfall is wooly thyme is, well...wooly and has no flavor, so can't use for cooking.

Mexican Petunias would do good in a tight space like this. And the shade will not bother them. Occasionally they jump the bed, but I just pull them up.

Some herbs might do well there too. Oregano can take shade, also mints and sage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mexican Petunia

I am a huge fan of Mexican Petunias. Even though they are supposed to be a plant that takes over the garden, the blooms are just gorgeous! Mine have not spread as much as I would like.

I know where you can get some more, Pam......(grin)!!!!

Great idea! The fence is so long I can try out many different things then go with whatever works.

Carrie :-)

What a great thread! I would be tempted to buy some hanging baskets around Mother's Day when they have great prices and try them in different ways. Hang some angel wing begonias here, maybe some bouganvila there. maybe some salvia garantica in the soil. Mine bloom in part sun and look great with turk's cap too. Part sun makes lemon lollipops very happy too! Oh, and don't forget some Persian Shield for the shady areas. It looks like a great area to keep you entertained for a long ....yes, that is a pun....time.

Love the boxed in fence poles too!

Here's what I've done so far...
{{gwi:1378738}}From Around the yard and garden

I need to clean it up a bit, but everything seems to be pretty happy.

Awesome, so vibrant and pretty!

Looks wonderful!!!

Not to be a total curmudgeon, BUT...

1) It's not your fence. It belongs to your neighbor 100% because he paid for it. That means you can't paint it, grow anything on it, or attach anything to it.

2) You don't have 6 more inches. That belongs to him, too! It's where the posts for his fence are.

The fence is built entirely on his property! This isn't like buying a new house and the fence is on the property line: he paid for it and put it on HIS property. The property line appears to be where the wall is. The property line didn't move! (And no, he didn't "abandon" the 6" on her side, he's using it for the fence foundation.)

I didn't paint it or attach anything to it or grow anything on it. But I did STEAL the ground and air on my side of the fence! If I'm responsible for mowing/weeding it, I'm claiming it!

While I *completely* agree with the issue of whose property that "new" 6 inches is . . .

Lynn's got a point. That neighbor isn't going to be coming in to her backyard every Saturday morning to edge the grass that's creeping under the fence.

As long as she doesn't:
* paint it,
* nail/attach to it, or
* grow anything that will creep under the fence,
I think she's safe.

The twine is tied around the pole -- no damage there. Sunflowers aren't exactly known to be invasive. Where's the crime?

It looks like there was enough room under the fence for him to string trim under it... before she blocked it.
If he decides to weed-wack that side, well, it's HIS.

Well, my next door neighbor knows where I live. If he is unhappy with the sunflowers peeping over his fence, he can come tell me about it. He hasn't complained. And while he could weed eat under the fence in the spots I didn't block, he hasn't. I've had to pull weeds. If the ground was important to him, he would have turned the fence the other way and I wouldn't have been able to access it.

And actually, lynnemarie, this is something that should be between you and your neighbor (doesn't seem he has a problem with it), and not something to be settled on a gardening forum.