Keep out or stay in

By Darren Bond

Fences: is this the ultimately boring topic?

No, think about it. They recently spent a billion dollars on a meeting of twenty people over a couple of days in Toronto so fences must play an important role.

Granted, our stuff will amount only to some fruit, vegetables and a cute little Schnauzer, but, still. Those rogue deer could start wearing all-black disguises and then where would we be?

Webster’s says it’s a “defense, protection; a barrier, as of wooden or metal posts, rails, wire mesh, etc. …”

I’m not sure they’ve thought through the aesthetics of their examples, but, having made my point, there are numerous options to think about. Setting aside the wire mesh – hmmm, not so fast, what about the strawberries – let’s think about the scenarios.

Noise: at the top of the property (our sloped lot being roughly the shape of an amphitheatre) is the main road that leads down to the ferry landing. During busy summer months, the line-ups of cars waiting to get on can snake up the hill, right outside our door. Part of Michael McNamara’s layout, I’m guessing, will be to set the house down far enough to be a bit hidden and to let sound waft over the top of the roof. Nevertheless, it would be nice to stop as much sound as possible from getting through in the first place.

Now, the most obvious solution would be one that is quite common: the wooden fence. I’ve seen places with tightly-placed vertical boards. I guess I like it, but they tend to bend and lean over time and need maintenance. I’d like something more rigid, but perhaps that gets costly.

What I’ve seen that turns my crank is in France where it is quite common to have high “walls” (that’s a fence, right?) of, what, plaster? Would a wall of concrete be appropriate? It could be made a bit decorative and perhaps have evergreen shrubs planted in front to avoid the prison-camp look.

Tendrils: what’s the use of installing a canning room if the previously-mentioned deer have had their way with my fruit? Our property, not surprisingly, has four sides. How do we “protect” ourselves and still have a view? Is this where the wire mesh comes in? Does it have to have curly-cue razor tops for ornamentation?

Wind: this morning, for example, the breeze was still a tad chilly, even though it’s the middle of July, so we had our coffee and cookie snack on the back deck rather than the front verandah. A courtyard has entered our minds as a nice architectural touch, and functional, too.

Heat: related to the wind issue, I’ve always remembered the walled gardens of English Victorian homes as a great way to generate extra heat to allow things to grow in a bit of a micro-climate that otherwise wouldn’t do well. (I will still need the hired help to bring the bounty up through the butler’s pantry slash mud room slash utility room.) Would this be an eye-sore and look like some kind of enlarged outhouse or bath-house?

Harvesting: I was enthralled the first time I saw the flat “espalier” fruit trees. How cool and functional is that. Looking at Wikipedia, it would appear that all kinds of trees are candidates. Who needs or wants to climb up a ladder (I have a phobia about them ever since putting my foot through one, climbing up to clear snow off the roof)? Also, I just saw a reference for a Belgian fence, which seems to be using pleaching (weaving, plaiting) for interlocking espaliers into a fence. Wow.

Supporting: will I want climbing roses? Or, do I need to stick to the principle of native plants and let bushes of native Nootka roses suffice? Hmmm, perhaps the fence up at the road could be supportive of Nootka roses.

See? So many considerations, and I haven’t even touched upon the secret gardens concept.

Also, upon revision, I notice I haven’t even mentioned neighbours. Don’t fences make good neighbours? Well, we won’t really have any. On one side are non-resident people and, in any case, there are trees between us. On the other side, there’s a forested lot and those folks have indicated that they’d like to leave it as is as long as they own it. And they’ve owned it for decades.

So, the topic is wide open at this point.

What’s your political bent on fences? Have you seen one that knocks your socks off?