Garden fencing can be one of the most eye appealing items on your personal property. A fence that works with your home construction style and the garden it enhances completes the picture you have created for family and visitors alike. Garden fence design has a long and fascinating history because families had fencing before they had houses. Back then, it was to keep enemies and animals away from food and family.

Today, fencing is designed for privacy, beauty and to increase a home's value. Garden fences look best when they complement or match the home's construction. For a brick house, a fence with brick dividers or fence posts would be attractive. You might choose a great plastic or wood picket fence for a cottage or colonial home. If you have a one story home that needs privacy from the street, put up a panel fence and soften it with some vines that grow in your area and you will quickly be able to add a new dimension of privacy to your home with little effort and time.

Choosing the right kind of fencing material can be an adventure. Just remember that there is more than one style of fencing that will look pleasing and meet all your requirements. Don't get too hung up on finding the perfect style or material. You don't have to be a landscape designer, trust your own instincts. Look around your neighborhood and see what is popular and why. Check with local home improvement stores and find out what's new. Establish a budget for your fencing and stick to it. You can save a lot by buying a few tools and doing most of the work yourself. Somehow, that seems to make that fence more valuable to your family.

A lot also depends on how much fencing you want established, and what part of the country you live in. You also have to consider if your house is on a hill or down in a valley. Will it get in the way of water draining away after rainstorms? Do you want breezes to come through or do you want to seal all wind, leaves and blowing snow out of the yard? Do you need to protect against burrowing animals or just your own dog digging holes underneath it? Is it primarily for protecting playing children from traffic mishaps and strangers, or is it to enhance and show off your famous rose garden or vegetable filled raised beds? It's all up to you - the garden fence designer!