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I have several clematis that badly need tall arch/trellises. Wish I had hundreds of $ to just buy a couple nice ones, but I am forced to fall back on my own creativity. They are both planted next to posts of an old grapevine, but it isn't tall enough.
Today I pruned some branches from my monster hybrid willows and I plan to make something for the clematis to climb with them. Has anyone else done this? I think I will just wire it all together; don't want to get too technical about it!
Other cheapo ideas that look good?
I recently posted a request and received (on Freecycle) a broken gazebo/shade house...the metal ones they sell at places like Target and Big Lots. I got one and am going to use the corner upright pieces as trellises. I'll wash them down and put on a coat of fresh rust-resistant spray paint and then put them up. I have two attched together already that hold up a huge miniature rose bush by my back patio.
Perhaps you could look for some broken gazebo pieces for your trellis.
I see you are in IA.. When we lived in Iowa I felt like the cows and corn out numbered the people there.. Nice people at that.. :)
Now when we had our farm there we had plenty of cattle panels laying around the cattle shed.. If you don't have one maybe a farmer in the family has one? Anyway here is the link to the thread that might can help you.. I thought it was a pretty good idea WUVIE came up with because one would never use them in that direction, always straight across..
'just a thought here.. why not consider plastic fencing mesh?.. the stuff that looks like large plastic 6-pack bottle holders?.. can be cut to any size or shape, comes in black, blue, yellow, orange, and even green!.. easy enough to recycle it from ''done'' road projects.. probably contact your county/state road department locally and they'd let you have it free if you went and got it.. you can use rebar or bamboo rods and the mesh can be attached with those plastic cable straps or whatever you have in the junk bin (we've all got one of those, no?).. and there's your trellis.. 4 rebars, 2 on each side of an entrance, buried about 2 ft into the ground; with about a foot/18 '' above ground; then take 1'' pvc pipe and slip over the ends of the bars.. fasten a crosspiece at the top to keep the two loops separated; attach the mesh, and viola!, you've got an entrance arch!!. again.. sounds simple enough.. all ''found items''.. haven't made either of these
