Can't advise re the paint - have to say I prefer natural wood myself. Fuchsias root best near the beginning of the growing season. If you try later you will need to prevent the shoots from flowering as this inhibits root growth. Just nip off any buds as you see them.

Snoop dog ....the older part of the fence is of corrugated iron, which is a common form of fence over here, in the back areas of the property. The back fence & one of the side fences, & newer fences on the property are wood. All the fences are just about two metres high. Steragram ...thank you for that advice. I will take several pieces & see how they go. Re painting the fences, it has to be done, as the corrugated iron fencing is beginning to rust, & I dislike the silver look of it, though a long stretch of it has been painted a dark grass-green. At the moment we have bare corrugated silver iron, painted corrugated iron, bare weathered wood, & bare new wood, so painting it all in one colour will unite it.

Why not go and look at the paint ranges available? I think you're right to steer away from dark colours - they'd be 'looming' in at you. I've seen fences painted in a lovely shade of blue-green which you might like.

Thanks SH. We have looked at several charts. Problem is that I would prefer something pale like a cream or maybe the same colour of our new colorsteel shed, which is called Desert Sand. My OH always goes for dark or strong colours ....we've had fun trying to choose interior & exterior house colours! I did show him some fences done in various shades of blue, but he keeps telling me he doesn't like blue. He would be happier with a dark green colour, but I don't like the traditional dark green which fences are painted & would not connect at all with colours of the house. A blue-green might work well, if I can find one. That would be a sort of compromise lol. What are your thoughts on painting the fences the same as the garden shed ...Desert Sand? My OH would be ok with that, as he chose that colour for the shed.

There are some really nice pale green fence paints here which look good as background to plants. Try some tester pots which I assume you can get out there. I have and hope to paint the fence next Spring.

Let him have some dark colours in the planting, you could explain how well they would show up on a lighter background

I have three fence charts in the house, so will find them today & have another look. He definitely does not want white. The Desert Sand is richer than cream, which I would have gone, as he won't have white. Desert Sand would not be my first choice, but better than a dark colour. One problem is that we have to choose a colour which is on both the exterior roof colour & the exterior wood colour charts .....in NZ our roofs are mainly done in corrugated iron, which are more flexible than tiles ....important in a country which has lots of quakes & tremors throughout the year. Some of the colours on the roof chart, are not on the wood chart, & as some of our fencing has been done in corrugated iron, & some in wood, they cannot be used. Desert Sand is on both charts, so we could go with that, but it is a rather dingy colour. We have a hedge newly-planted at front of house, & will be putting in Pickett gates over the driveway & the front door path. I plan to do those in the smokey-turquoise colour which is one of the two exterior house trim colours. Yes C, we do have the testers here, so will get some when we have settled on a couple of colours. We used them when deciding on the exterior house colour.

I'd get the test pots and try them out.You've got to be 'comfortable' with whatever colour you decide on. It is indeed a background for your plants, so get painting!

Do please let us know what you chose - or should I say 'compromised' on?

As you are just in Spring it is the perfect time to take some cuttings. Take shoots about 3 or 4 inches long, cut just below a leaf joint. Take off the lower leaves and put around the edge of a pot filled with a gritty compost (fresh, not re-used). Make sure that you press the compost firmly against the base of the cutting as it won't root if there is an air gap. Water the pot and put into a propagator (bottom heat helps) or put the pot inside a plastic bag. It should root in a few weeks. If flower buds form pinch them out. When it has rooted and starts to grow pot it on into fresh multi purpose compost and pinch out the top to encourage bushiness. Pot on as needed.

Will do SH & thanks for comments & advise to everyone. Thank you Volunteer for that info on taking cuttings. It's actually the end of spring over here, so the fuchsia is in full flower. I suppose I just take the cuttings as you say to do, & then remove any flowers & the lower leafs. Will get the compost tomorrow ...will have to make do with a plastic bag, as I do not have a propagator. If the cuttings do well, I imagine I will get one, as I can then take cuttings of hydrangeas etc. One thing more ......do I water the cuttings inside the plastic bag every day, or every other day?

A basic thing to consider D. If you paint your fence light it will stand out and look closer. If you want your boundary to fade in the distance, you would be better going with OH's plan. I painted mine in a peachy 'Yew' shade and have regretted it ever since. My neighbour went for dark aubergine and you don't notice her fence at all. I got it wrong! My garden would have looked bigger had I gone darker.

Water the cuttings just before you put the bag over the pot. It should stay moist inside the bag but check every few days to make sure it is ok. Keep the pot in a bright but slightly shaded place. If it's on a windowsill I find that a piece of plain white paper held onto the window (inside!) with Blu tack works well as shading.

KS ....thank you for that advice. I was thinking it would be the other way around. I thought a dark fence would close the garden in & a light shade would make it look larger ....not that it needs to look any larger, as it is a big back area, & very wide as it is. I know interior paint works the other way around ....if you want a room to look bigger, paint it in a light tone. If you want it to look smaller & cosier, paint it in a darker tone. But you are right. Darker tones outdoors do recede, don't they. Hmmmm ....aubergine .....love that colour. One of the colours for the fancy trims on the house is a colour called Rasputin & is a dark mulberry shade, but not sure they would do that colour in a roof or fence paint. I will see if there is something similar. I can imagine flowers in pink & blue & lilac shades would look beautiful against aubergine. Not sure about yellow & red, but those are colours that I don't use a lot of in my garden. Thank you Volunteer, for that additional info. I have spotted another large shrub fuschia with tiny red flowers on it, so may have to pluck up the courage to ask if I could take some cuttings from it.

I am trying to envisage a "peachy yew colour" - is that a peachy dark green or a greeny peach?

Lol cammomile...it's the colour of yew wood, not the foliage! :)))))

I am a sirry irriot!

;) I should have been more honest and said its a pale shade of orange and I hate it! :)

Ummm...get the paint charts out! That doesn't sound very attractive, put like that.

I have been trying to find an aubergine colour. Would it be leaning more towards a purple-aubergine, Karen? Or a burgundy-aubergine ...like the actual aubergine vegetable? Trying to envisage it, so I know roughly what I am looking for. Thanks.

Yes, it is a really dark purple, almost black from a distance. Let me see if I can find it for you.....http://www.cuprinol.co.uk/web/pdf/guides/garden_shades_colour_guide.pdf will give you some ideas, but if I'm correct, it's not wood paint you need....your fence isn't wood is it? so that will effect what is available for you.

Hmmm...I can't find the colour I was looking for, although there are some nice ones on the pages I've linked above. :)

Part of the fence is wood & part is corrugated iron. If I know the colour I am looking for, I'll be able to see what I can find close to it, which is available in both roof iron paints & wood fence paints. Thanks for that link Karen. Will check it out now.

Beautiful range of colours, Karen. There is one called Sweet Damson that might be near the aubergine. I showed it to my OH & he took one look at it & said 'Violet' in a rather disparaging tone. Lol

Typical male reaction Lol. We women have a better sense of colour. Now won't that open up a can of worms!!

Yes, sweet Damson is exactly the colour I thought you would like, since it seemed to be a cross between the aubergine and the burgundy colour you described! I thought it was lovely....though you might want something even darker than that to make it recede more. It's funny isn't it, how it works the opposite way around to indoors! :) can't wait to see what you do in the end!

Lol C. That is for sure! Karen, I am so frustrated! I trekked through all the roof colour charts available in NZ online last night, & there was nothing even near that lovely colour ...& we have to use a roof colour on the corrugated iron part of the fence. I don't think they even have any of those beautiful Cuprinol outdoor wood colours either. The Cuprinol colours over here are rather boring. No lovely shades like the ones I saw on their UK site. Wattyl do a range of colours that I haven't looked at yet, & Resene can tint most of their various paints in their whole range .....which is vast. I will have to check if they are able to tint roof paints ...no probs with fence paints as I can use exterior wood colours. Will let you know what I discover & thank you for your help.

no problem....Cammomile is quite right of course! ;)