Posted: 7/9/2008 2:50:18 AM EDT
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I see many posts that recommend fencing or border plants of some sort for security. What type fence provides the most security? What border plant grows fast enough to be feasible? Thanks M |
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You'll get a variety of good answers to this question. In my neck of the woods, multiflora rose makes a good "living fence." It's remarkably invasive though--can't just plant it and forget it. No sane creature will bull through a stand of this stuff.   
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I'm going with privets over a wire fence. Think hedgerow. Privet grows fast and you should have something quite nice after three or four years or so. Mine is only a year old and stands about two feet. I'm shooting for eight feet with a formal look. If you're wanting something big and fast look at Siberian elm. Multiflora rose is a bugger, so are blackberries, and I just HATE barberry hedges. Any of those would be a good start. Blackberries have the advantage of producing some mighty tasty crops. I once had my dog chase a prowler through a barberry hedge at a previous house. He left his shirt and a bit of blood behind. The dog wasn't dumb enough to follow him. |
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When I bought my first house in N TX near the Red River it had about 12 privets along the road. 7 years later there were about 4 or 5 that had survived. I think they couldn't handle the heat and dry weather we had. +1 on blackberries. You might think about prickly pears. A bunch of them growing on the outside of the fence will make it a hassle to get close enough to the fence to cut through or climb over. The fruit is edible, too. The problem I've had with them is weeds and Johnson grass growing up in the middle of them looks ugly. If you don't care about looks then it's no problem. If you don't have a huge area to do you could put down landscape cloth around the bases. Poison ivy might be a deterrent, at least during the day when people can see it. If someone comes along at night and walks through it they probably won't know about it until they are past it. Of course transplanting it could be a problem. |