A Trellis Extension for the Beast

We have an enormous Clematis vine (the “Beast”) growing on the railing of our deck.  It’s so big (and has never been trimmed?), that you can see the old fan trellis it was originally tied to, now literally pulled apart by the vine.  There’s no getting to that old trellis though, unless the whole vine comes down (and I don’t want to do that just yet! It’s very pretty right now.)

This clematis is getting SO big…..that it has nowhere else to go.  It has “old wood” stems which have grown around the railing and are supporting it to some extent, but the new growth has trouble getting a hold of the railing.  So the vine is doubling over itself, having nowhere else to grow.

I will be trimming the plant to a drastic 12 inches from the ground, but not until winter when it’s dormant.  Until then, I needed to do something about its size.

Enter: a roll of fencing and some bamboo stakes.

A few snips of the fencing, some simple weaving, and some green garden twist-ties later, the clematis has more room to grow.   (And I’m getting ALL kinds of ideas for that fencing….)

It will provide some shade to our deck as well, though admittedly the trellis looks a little strange. But I predict the clematis will have covered it by the end of the week.

For one season, strange is fine.  Next year I’ll make sure it has a larger trellis to begin with (and we may even have a pergola for it to cover – we’ll see.)

Some other yard “pretties” :

A long-stemmed rose bush of some kind.  Ok it’s not pretty yet.

 

Blooms from a shorter, squattier rose bush.

Delphinium

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes – also not pretty.  But tasty! (Soon)

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day 🙂

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