A trellis for your thoughts DIY Rope Trellis

DIY Trellis

Let your climbers come up and play with this rustic DIY rope trellis for all your indoor and outdoor explorer plants. You can create this trellis using upcycled materials lying around at home, or go totally eco-friendly with organic materials scavenged from the garden. Enjoy all the benefits of trellis growing and get the most from your curious creepers this summer.

 

A trellis gives you the edge

When planting edibles and decorative plants against a supportive trellis, you:

  1. Save space by going vertical and neaten up your garden’s appearance.
  2. Are able to home more indoor plants and grow more food in less space with easy-peasy harvesting.
  3. Grow clean, ‘normal looking’ produce, instead of odd shapes splashed with dirt.
  4. Reduce disease and insect damage by improving air circulation around plants and also by keeping foliage off the ground where soil-borne diseases can quickly spread.
  5. Make it easier for pollinators to access flowers.
  6. Experiment and play with architecture, landscaping, and visually intriguing décor.
  7. Grow healthier plants with increased exposure to indoor lighting or outdoor sunlight.
  8. Are able to prune and apply fertiliser much easier than if plants were on the ground.
  9. Equip your plants with better support to withstand strong winds and rainfall.
  10. Cover up baren walls and fences, and create your own indoor living walls.
Roses on Trellis
Trellis
Inquisitive indoor climbers

Here’s a list of five fabulous indoor creepers and climbers for inspiration.

  1. Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum)
  2. Pothos (Caution: toxic to cats, dogs, and children if ingested)
  3. Wax flowers (Hoya carnosa)
  4. Creeping fig (Ficus pumila)
  5. Maidenhair vine (Muehlenbeckia complexa)
Edible outdoor explorers

Plant and sow these scrumptious edibles on a trellis and maximise your harvest.

  1. Beans
  2. Peas
  3. Tomatoes
  4. Melons
  5. Summer squash

Available in pots, seedling trays and seed packets from your GCA Garden Centre.

Pothos
Maidenhair vine
Tomatoes on Trellis
Melons on Trellis
Begin your trellis assembly

You will need:

  • At least 5 sticks from the garden or 5 store-bought wooden rods
  • Some harvested fresh and pliable vines, or some bought twine
  • A nail and hammer

*Top tip: If you’re going organic, try collecting an interesting variety of sticks to give your trellis the ultimate rustic and raw look.

Back to Basics with Creepers and Crawlers

Climbing plants and ground covers are the easiest way to level up your gardening game. Bring walls to life, add privacy with hedges, decorate arches dripping with roses, cover-up baren spaces, create curtains of greenery for the patio, get your windowsills bustling with bees and butterflies, attract more birds, smell the sweet essence of flowers every morning, bring in colour, AND – need we even say more! Here’s some inspiration to get you going.

 

Climbing, quick spreaders
Indigenous splendours:
  • Pink trumpet vine (Podranea ricasoliana) is a full sun beauty, boasting an abundance of fragrant lilac-pink flowers. Vigorous, rambling, and great for beginners.
  • Starry wild jasmine (Jasminium multipartitum) rewards gardens with a delicious sweet scent emitted by star-shaped blooms. They like morning/afternoon sun.
  • Flame creeper (Combretum microphyllum) is a truly spectacular specimen with flaming crimson flowers for the larger garden with ample sun.
  • Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis) flourish in full sun where tubular blooms in red, orange, yellow, and salmon can climb up to 3m high.
Worldly charms:
  • Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is a highly fragrant climber and ground cover. Blooms perform best in full sun, but they also do well in semi-shade.
  • For climbing roses, try the Stamina Rose. This pink-purple babe parades over arches and windowsills. She’s also hardy and disease-resistant, bonus!
  • Flowering Ivy (Senecio macroglossus) is a bright little explorer with yellow daisy-like flowers between dark green foliage. They enjoy full sun to semi-shaded areas.
  • Potato vine (Solanum jasminoides) has clusters of fragrant, dainty light-blue or white blooms that’ll make quick work of full sun, trellised walls and arches.
Ground covering crawlers
Ornamental grass
  • Ophiopogon japonicus 'Kyoto' is an exceptional tuft-forming no-mow grass that’s ideal as a plant filler in full sun to semi-shade. They’re cold and frost-hardy too!

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