A mountain laurel fence

Mountain laurels (Kalmia latifolia) have wonderfully sculpted branches.  They make wonderful fences, gates, hand-railings, and decorative additions to water features.  My colleague Ginny is an expert at creating delightfully-crafted garden elements out of mountain laurel's gnarled branches.

This porch railing, at Elk Knob Farm (on last weekend's Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Family Farm Tour), was a wonderful example of how lovely branches are, and how artfully they can be incorporated.