Ughh posted early!!! Sorry anyway, this is the fence we came up with to go around the pond we are keeping. Help me make this more attractive. Need the fence for kid safety. Ignore the crazy statues and bridge, they are going! Came with the house.

Upgrade posts.

Well we thought about framing the wire mesh but were worried about adding more lines to the view. The yard is pretty busy as is. Here's the house from the back...too dark to take a picture of the whole yard right now, but I will post tomorrow to see what you think. Some people suggested vines on the fence, I planted catmint along the bottom to see if it will fill out at camouflage it a bit. Any other gardening ideas?

What about painting the posts green since you want the fence to disappear? We did that with a chain link and I'm surprised at what a difference it made.

Yes! We are painting the deck a grey green (you can see in one of the photos). I think staing them to match is a good idea! Was also thinking of doing wood post caps instead of that black plastic.

We are in Northern Virginia if that helps with plant suggestions...I wish there was an evergreen vine that was NOT Ivy. I have spent most of this spring pulling it all out!

You don't need a fence around the pond, the Koi won't get out. As far as the kids, teach them to swim and tell them to stay out of the pond. The pond will look better without a fence.

I almost agree with you Mark, but we used to live in SoCal, where accidental drowning was the leading cause of death in children under 3. I would suggest, if your kids are very little, or very "special", door alarms....they just should not be outside unsupervised......a fence with any kind of horizontal lattice can be easily climbed. Where we live now, we have a tidal estuary, with up to 11 foot tides...sometimes our floating dock is a death trap and sometimes it's not. It would be nice to have a 'you must wear a life jacket on the dock" rule, but the dock sits on sand half the time, and the life jacket rule would just not be logical...

Thanks all! We left it unfenced for two years because we watched our toddler like hawks. But he's four now and is a lot more independent. While he has a healthy respect for the dangers of the pond, his friends don't. It's like Lord of the Flies back there when the neighbors are over and it is too stressful to watch them all and keep warning them about the pond. I caught one of them trying to kick another one over into it while he was bent over tying his shoes--decided on a fence right then. Accidents happen. If one of them snuck in, fell over and hit their head on the way in...
Also, I think I'm extra worried because someone drowned in my pool when I was very young ( had epilepsy and fell in during a seizure while no one was around).
Anyway, fence stays!
I think the posts are cedar, but if not I will stain them to match the new deck color! Any plant suggestions still welcome. I'm sure I'll be at peace with this the next time the hoarde descends into our yard!