SEARCH
MENU
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Shop
Creative & Frugal Home & Garden Ideas

Empress of Dirt

  • Grow
  • Make
  • Ideas

New here?

Dig in!

Start here

25 Ways to Dress Up a Fence With Garden Art

Published on August 9, 2020Last updated October 5, 2021 ♛ By Melissa J. Will

This post contains affiliate links.
Read full disclosure statement here.

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on PinterestShare on Email

These garden fence decorations show all sorts of creative ways to dress up your outdoor space. Discover how to turn that bland wall into a work of art.

Want more privacy? See 20 Ideas for Better Backyard Privacy.

Garden art on fences including old tools, a funny face, and an old window frame.

Creative Art & Decor for Garden Fences

I go on local garden tours to gather creative and inexpensive ideas for my garden. Sure, there all all kinds of wonderful but expensive garden art items you can buy these days but my favorites are still the ones that are upcycled, repurposed, and unique. Things that look one-of-a-kind and suit the gardener’s personality.

When we see ideas we like, it’s easy to get fixated, thinking we must have the same thing. But—speaking as much to myself as you—I encourage you to use these ideas as a starting point and let serendipity do its thing.

Explore yard sales and thrift shops and keep an open mind. Let one idea lead to another and when you find items you like, work with them! That’s a sure way to have garden art that is as unique as you are. And that’s how many of the ideas you’ll see here came to be.

If you prefer mail order, Etsy and eBay can also be good sources.

Now let’s explore some ideas.

Related: 24 More Creative Fence Decor Ideas


1Rustic Stars

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Rustic Star

Create your own unique star with reclaimed wood slats, a grape vine wreath, rustic metal star, and a raffia bow.

Rustic Metal Star | Amazon

2Plates and Dishes

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Blue plates

Have your plates and dishes seen better days? Let them live on outdoors. Here a collection of blue plates is combined with some metal art pieces and blue orbs.

Metal Garden Art | Amazon

3Salvaged Metal and Wood

Wonderful display of eclectic garden art on a fence at a salvage yard. Use what you have to turn your fence into art!

Several of these pieces might be kind of bland on their own, but arranged together on this fence they look quite wonderful.

Garden Art Projects & Ideas book cover

25 Garden Art Projects & Ideas
by Melissa J. Will

Grab the top garden art DIY projects and tips from Empress of Dirt

This ebook is a digital file you save to your device (not a physical product).

Buy Now

$6.99 US | PayPal, Credit Card, Apple Pay
PDF Format | About Ebook

4Rusty Old Tools

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Display rusty old tools

I often see boxes of rusty old tools at auctions. They’re filthy and there’s probably some useless junk in the box too, but if you’re willing to lug them home and clean them up, you can get a display like this for a real deal.

More: Tool Art Gallery

5More Rusty Tools

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Display rusty old tools

The side of this shed is used to display old garden tools, a cast iron frying pan, and more. So what works? I think it’s a simple of choosing items you like. If it appeals to you—hang it up. You can always switch things around later.

DIY Garden Art Flower Alliums

6Old Gate and Metal Word Sign

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Old gate with word sign

Everybirdy Welcome | Amazon


Old gates, headboards, shelves—they all work. Add your own touch with a favorite metal sign. Here’s some examples at Amazon.

Check thrift shops and yard sales to find ones in your area.

7Shelves and Decor

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Use shelves to show off your decor

If you have some favorite items you want to display but find them difficult to hang, add shelves. It’s a great way to show off bulkier items that you don’t want to keep on the ground.

DIY Outdoor Plant Shelf

8Window Frame with Shutters

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Old Window Frame with Shutters

This is from my garden. An old window frame matched perfectly with some junk shutters to create a focal point in the garden.

Door & Window Garden Art Ideas

9Framed Succulents

Succulent frame on fence

Framed succulents became popular some years ago. For some of us, succulents are not cheap but you can learn to propagate your own to get more if you’re willing to be patient.

The project (above) is from the book Gardening on a Shoestring and you can see the entire tutorial here: How to Make Framed Succulents.

The next photo is from a garden tour. I thought it was interesting that they used a screen window and threaded the succulents through it.

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Framed succulents

Fence Decor Ideas

10Galvanized Buckets

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Hanging Galvanized Buckets

Along with some very sweet framed succulents, this garden has a series of galvanized buckets mounted on the fence.

Simply drop potted plants in to change things up through the growing season.

11Candle Holders and Kitchen Trivets

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Candle Holders and Kitchen Trivets

This is also at my house. I added the hanging planters to add interest to the long brick wall but it still looked too plain. The addition of metal candle holders and kitchen trivets added the artistic touch I wanted.

12Garden Tools

Old tools make great garden art. Let them rust or add spray paint.

I hung these garden tools on the fence after realizing I was never going to use them but didn’t really want to get rid of them.

While some love the look of rust, in this case I opted to spray paint the ends silver.

13Plants With Character

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Succulents in an ornate metal basket

The succulents chosen for this fence-mounted planter are a perfect choice for the ornate style. Plus anything long or cascading tends to kick it up a notch.

Related: Creative Ways to Display Succulents

14Outdoor Art Gallery

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Metal Art Gallery

Display collections of similar items that work together likes these hanging metal sculptures.

15Pick A Theme

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | A Cat-Themed Display

Here the gardener picked a theme—cats—and displayed the related items together. Meow!

16Fence and Gate Inserts

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Decorative Inserts

In the old days we used old floor grates for this but today you can buy metal or plastic inserts that do a good job of adding interest to a plain gate or fence.

17Giant Bug Art

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Giant Bug Art

This giant dragonfly is from a shop but you can also make your own from an old ceiling fan.

Click here to subscribe!

18Repetition Repetition

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Side privacy fence with planters

This unusual fence is between two houses where they wanted privacy and creativity. The “roof” up top is a smart way to add height to a fence without having a tall, plain wall. The repeated hanging baskets definitely bling it up.

19Old Frames and Mirrors

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Old Frames and Mirrors

Along with broken garden tools, I started hanging old wooden picture frames and mirrors as well. This is a great way to add interest to a long fence while you’re waiting for the plants to grow up. This tells you which mirrors to choose and how to keep it safe:

How to Safely Use Mirrors in the Garden

20Color

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Add a blast of colour

There’s nothing like a zing of color to grab attention. These brilliant blues are a great distraction from a long, boring wall. When in doubt, choose a bright blue lobelia.

21Indoor Decorating Style Outdoors

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Decorate like you do indoors

This sitting area is set up the same way you’d do it indoors. The table and chairs set the stage, and the various plants and decorations on the wall accent the setting.

22Simple Can Be Very Good

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Simple touches can make a big difference

This little mask works perfectly on this expanse of black fence and gate. Simple touches like this are my favorite.

23Living Art and Perennial Favorites

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Living art

Train a clematis or other vine up a fence. Here some annuals and birdhouses add to the living art.

Clematis 101 Tips

24Natural Materials and Matching Textures

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Try grouping various natural materials

Stacked firewood and hanging wicker baskets look gorgeous together. Think about grouping items with similar colors and textures for an eye-catching display.

25Add Some Humor

25+ Creative Ideas For Garden Fences | Humour In The Garden

Tree Face Kit | Amazon

I’m a big proponent of having your garden your way. Forget what anyone else has to say and follow your muse. If you like goofy faces like this or anything else that adds some fun, go for it.

I hope you got some ideas you can use.

There are a whole bunch more idea galleries here.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛

Empress of Dirt Digital Garden Bundle.

Special Deal

Royal Digital Garden Bundle

9 Ebooks & Printable Garden Planner & More

All Empress of Dirt fan- favorite garden-related digital products.

These are not physical products: they are digital files to save to your device.

Buy The Bundle $39.99 US
Buy The Bundle $39.99 CAD

PayPal, Credit Card, Apple Pay | PDF Format | See Details Here

Garden art on fences including old tools, a funny face, and an old window frame.
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on PinterestShare on Email

FREE NEWSLETTER

EVERY TWO WEEKS

Creative, frugal home and (mostly) garden ideas in your inbox!



Privacy Policy



Listen to Our Garden Podcast

SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST HERE

Melissa J. Will - Empress of DirtWelcome!
I’m Melissa J. Will a.k.a. the Empress of Dirt (Ontario, Canada).
Join me as I share creative + frugal home & garden ideas with a dash of humor.
More: Contact/About
New here? Dig in!  |  Our Podcast

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Some articles on this site contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Affiliate and Ad Disclosure | Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Empress of Dirt Creative + Frugal Home & Garden Ideas