A Twiggy Trellis

Introducing my latest twig trellis!  I love this design because it allows me to practice my joinery, but since there are only four joints I can accomplish this much faster than a more complicated pattern.  It also allows me to recycle long plum branches from my neighbor's tree, pruned last Summer (thanks, Janet!)

I picture this being more of a room divider than a privacy screen trellis, with the option of leaving it as is or allowing a vine to traipse across its branches.  Perhaps since they're blooming now, I think a Dutchman's Pipevine (Aristolochia californica) would be pretty cool! 

 

Obviously, the twine and sticks will deteriorate before the redwood does.  However impractical that might be, I like the idea of being able to make a canvas which can hold a number of different looks over time. Many products are built for life in the name of sustainability- which is always good practice, but it's also important to remember the fickle tastes of the consumer!  I for one enjoy a change of scenery and am excited to create something that supports it without adding to the waste stream. 

The Raspberry Trellis

Here I go again, showing off!  It's a small trellis I constructed from salvaged fencing for the garden I bragged about last week.  Soon enough, raspberries will not be able to keep their canes off of it! 

I secured the fence to the structure by drilling holes in 2 x 2's, then ripping them on the tablesaw (that's "cut them in half long-ways" in wood speak) and gluing them back together with the fence sandwiched inbetween.  The bottom support has a channel and holes at the bottom for drainage and also to loop thinner gauge wire around the fence and back down through the hole in the support to secure it all.  I needed something to anchor the wire at the bottom so it wouldn't fall through the hole, so what else to use besides buttons!  They aren't visible in the finished piece, but it was a fun detail that I enjoyed adding.  Pardon the fluorescent lighting and poor photo...

It's nice to give new life to old, discarded materials.  Now if only I had the time to do that to all the other cool old stuff I've got stored away!

Curves and Angles: A New Trellis for the Wall

 

I'm still trying to figure out what I think of this one, but here's the latest trellis!  This one is for my front garden, but is #1 in a line of trellises I'll be offering come Spring (gee, that's soon).  You might remember when I took the army of clamps off the center piece in this earlier post.   So without further ado, I present the latest trellis:

 

It's a fun one since it involves bending wood (and bending wood involves lots of chances for disaster such as a 10ft long piece of drainage pipe filled with hot water balancing on the counter.  Oh, the suspense!) and doing some Japanese style joints at odd angles.  I'm still trying to decide how to mount it onto the wall, so any advice would be most welcome.  It was inspired by the wrought iron railing that borders the front steps and entry patio of the house.  Soon enough it will have a twin on the other side of the garage and a Vitus californica 'Roger's Red' clambering up it.  Heck, maybe I could get a Dutchman's Pipevine into the mix as well! 

A Folly for the Garden

Do you see what happens when a girl gets her table saw up and running? Dangerous stuff, indeed. I found some antique sewing machine legs in the basement and combined them with some scrap redwood to create a garden folly.

After reading this comment thread on Garden Bliss, I really wanted to follow Red Studio's advice and paint it a lovely blue-based red. Well, my paint chip color blindness revealed itself again as I sloshed the paint on and realized it was really fuchsia ... oops. When it's on those tiny squares at the store it looks so different! Good thing I still like the color! Hopefully someone else will as well, considering that it's now available to those who are interested...

Here's a detail of where I left part of the salvaged legs unpainted. The patina was just so lovely that I couldn't help myself.

Berkeley Jewel Box Garden

I stopped by a garden yesterday that I had completed a few months back and man.... was there a party going on! A black carpenter bee was humming about the collinsias and the white poppies were dancing away with the phacelias. Because it's a small and shady spot, I wanted to leave the design open for variation- creating seasonal bursts of jewel-toned blossoms to attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.


The trellis I made to match the Arts and Crafts style of the house is still waiting for the native grape to take some initiative, but it's coming along.

I love the red stems that contrast with the leaves. I can't wait to see him turn red in the fall.
A dry stream bed weaves its way through the plantings- aren't those pink poppies spectacular?