creative clematis supports

hello all. as many of you know,i love to grow clems on naturalized supports such as evergreens, hydrangea, arborvitae etc etc. however, that said, with as many clems as i have, supports are an ongoing issue. how to keep the gardens from looking trashy yet come up with something feasible in terms of $$ and being able to install them myself. (do not like to ask hubby for help due to mountainout of mole hill syndrome)
this spring i am expecting a good number of clems, plus had ones planted last fall that i did not worry about supports for due to the onset of winter.
yesterday i had a brainwave i want to share. i used upside down tomatoe cages, and fixed them into the ground with landscape mat pins. the garden i am using them in is in an area where i "trial" clems, yet still want a decent look. i had an abundance of grapevine balls from some prior decorating theme. i topped each upside down tomatoe cage with a grapevine ball as a finial on the top.
i will put two to a cage from the outside for large flowered clems, and for vitacella clems, one for each cage, from the inside for those types (more vigorous first year with those)
i will not use them for species types, which are too vigorous from year one for them.
anyway with tomatoe cages at a buck 50 and the grapevine balls already here, i put together about 20 of these to day for this year's garden and be looking for other finial choices to make more.
here is a pic. you get the idea.

How clever, and good looking too. I bet those are going to work great for you.

Great idea!! I need a few supports right now too. I may just have a tomato cage or two hanging around.

I wish I were so clever and creative. I just shop for inexpensive but hopefully sturdy trellises.

Creative for sure...good job....

i have a lot of trellises, obelisk, this and that. will let you how these how they hold up. they are in an area very protected and will end up with soil and mulch around the bottom on top of the landscape mat pins.
in this area, eventually vigorous clems will go right up the arbor v evergreens.
we'll see how they test out. they look a little better than the tomatoe case inserted the right way i think!

Yes, I've read previously on another website about using over turned tomato cages as a climbing structure for the shorter growing Clematis. However, I did not know about the grapevine finials. That's very creative! Yes, tomato cages are a lot more cost effective than trellises, obelisks, etc. They are in plentiful supply in any big box store. I will look for the grapvine finials in my local craft store.

Thanks so much for this very creative and cost efficient alternative for growing Clematis on!

glad you like it shirley. idea born out of need. need is the mother of invention or whatever.
i think they will look better with vines on them. but i can even see in a nice flower border, behind some shrubs, or next to some tall flowers, how the wire of the cage will be less obtrusive than other forms of support.....i am sure there are other finial ideas in the craft store. i just had these laying around doing nothing.
a small birdhouse might be cute out of natural material so it would be easy to affix.
was going to wait to take a pic until there were vines and flowers, but then thought, maybe someone has the same dilemma i do......
on my set up , the vitacellas or strong vigorous clems can hop from the tomatoe cage to the arbor v's nearby. and the cages are fine for year one and two of a slower growing type 2 or very small plant.
i am going to take your advice in hand regarding not setting out small plants. the ones from silver star i have coming in will go right out. she ships a BIG root. if any of the others i have ordered are small i am going to grow them on in a pot till late summer i think.
colder but sunny and spring like here. am pruning a few each day. i had my garden helper move 2 polish spirits and a terniflora today from an area i had been growing them in and didn't want them in to 3 different sides of a very tall hemlock tree. the plants are 3 years old and vigorous, so it will be great to see them scramble up this tree.
happy spring to all!

Sorry I couldn't answer sooner! My DH had major surgery and is still in the hospital. I have no time on the computer between running back & forth between work, home & the hospital.

I like the idea of utilizing the tomato cages for shorter Clematis vines. Not only is it a very cost effective alternative to some of the expensive obelisks you see in the big box stores, but it is something that most gardeners have at home or could find at a very friendly price in their local store.

Personally, I wouldn't grow any large Clematis on a tomato cage unless you want it to leap onto its neighbor. I don't know that a tomato cage would hold up under a very vigorous vine.

Yes, Silver Star Vinery sends Clematis very well developed root systems.

sorry to hear about your family illness. hope good outcome.

i put some more of the tomatoe cages together this weekend. ran out of grapevine balls and used little woven, nautal birdhouses that hand as the finial. as i had them on hand, unused.

i have 4 or 5 4 inch u shaped landscape mat pins on each of them and they seem pretty secure. plus not a windy area. the vitacellas will hope to the arbor vitaes.
i may put some peas on the ones will the clems that i expect to be creepers and rip them out after we pick some.

take care. hope eveybody well soon.

Shirley I hope your dh is doing ok......was it a major surgery he had done? I don't mean to pry....just know I am thinking of you and your family. ((hugs))

was looking at a different forum, some info about ohio weather and saw another use of the tomatoe cage....some folks stuff them with leaves and use them for winter protection over a rose plant.
guess it would have to be a small rose plant, but thought that was very clever idea for winter protection.

Thanks for your thoughts & hugs, niobe & Dawn. Yes, it was very major surgery. I picked him up from the hospital today. He will be recuperating for several weeks between surgeries. We don't have a date yet for his next one. It will probably be in 1 month from now. Then recuperating for 2-3 months at home.

Yes, I agree that it would have to be a rather small rose bush to fit underneath a tomato cage stuffed with leaves, but it's a clever idea non-the-less.

Well I will keep him in my thoughts Shirley....I wish you both the best. At least we know he has a good nurse in you....you are so nuturing after all - you are a gardener!

Thanks so much, Dawn. You're so sweet!

Aw, Shirley! My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your husband.

jlp222: Thanks so much for your thoughts & prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Clematisguru, will you keep plants in pots permanently or eventually transfer them to soil. I have a small flower garden - no shrubs - and would love to add a clem. I also have a deck with lots of pots and a latice fence. Can you recommend something that can grow in a pot.

good 2be ok

i will only keep them in pots for the summer and then place them in their permanent home. i did this my first year in clems, as my gardens were not developed and i did not know where to put them. i left them in pots for 2 years, about 8 types and they went out into the garden in the spring the next year and there was no problem.
this time around it will be with small plants that i am skeptical are ready to be planted out.i think most any clem can be done in a pot for a year or two if protected in the winter.
there are some that may be perfect for leaving in longer such as piilu, hf young, kakia (pink champagne).....
there are now clems suited for container culture by evison and most garden centerrs carry them in the spring...but to tell you the truth they are not my favorite ...don't know why i am sure they are great. i like to order from clem specialists....silver star vinery and brushwood garden vines are good choices.

i will say i used very thick good pots and they were left on a protected deck in the winters. some folks bring the containers in the garage after they go totally dormant and just water rarely thru the winter. i think they need some light when you do this, i have never done it, but it sounds like it is done pretty often.

i bet you can get years out of them in pots...and i know you will enjoy them. they are truly addictive and just enjoyable from spring sprouts to vigorous growth to blooms to seedheads, not to mention their amazing hardiness and ability to adapt.

CG - Where did you get your grapevine balls? Are they generally available at craft stores? The inverted tomato cage is such a great idea! I've got a can of green spray paint and would like to give this a try!

figaro, i got mine in nyc years ago on 28th st in the floral district (which is rapidly disappearing as a district) and shipped them here for some kind of a decoration pile inside, then they worked their way out side and were out there just sitting there when i did the tomatoe cage thing. i think they have them from time to time at somewhere like michaels craft store. there might be instructions on the internet to make them with wet willow branches too.......
they have worked out well on smaller clems and other too as support before they leap to the arbor vitaes where they are supposed to be!

Thanks CG. I just remembered a couple of little woven birdhouses I got from Gardeners Supply a few years ago. The birds weren't attracted to them at all (too small), so they will be an option for me. But I'll check out the local Michaels craft store for other ideas. Your threads in this forum are very enjoyable and informative. You've taught me alot about Clematis!!

my pleasure figaro. i have learned a lot on the forum too. great group of clem lovers and some new clemships and clempals that i appreciate very much.
clems rock! clems rule!

also just heard that odd lots in ohio has some good structures and trellis stuff on sale......

Deborah:

I think you meant to say BIG lots. All their gardening items and furniture are on sale. I picked up 4 white trellises (like what we gave you) and at Marc's (don't know if there is any by you but they have some incredible trellises for sale. 10.00 and they are 5 feet maybe 5.5 feet tall.

Janet

Actually the stores are called both, Big Lots and Odd Lots depending on location. Same company and almost the same merchandise but a different name for some reason?

If you see their trucks, they have both the names. (or they used to)

Our stores around the Cincy area are BIG Lots.

Oh really, never have seen and Odd Lots, thanks for the info on that. Very interesting.

Yes I saw yesterday a wooden arbor for 50.00 and an black iron arbor for 89.00, I was in the small run around town car instead of the truck or I would have purchased them mainly cause the price was so right. I did however get 4 white trellises and you should have seen me trying to fit them in the back seat of the car..... I'm sure I gave a few folks a laugh in the parking lot....

Janet

to tell you the truth i do not know, now that i think of it, if it is big lots or odd lots here, anyway, i know where it is. orange logo sign. will stop by this weekend, i like the white ones......
planted 6 clems this morning took an our and a half. all of the holes but one were dug, and i ammendeda big wheel barrow of soil and had just enough to complete the plantings. finished planting for the year till the saphyra indigos come in.

Oh Deborah, I've got another white one for you.... when we see you next....

Janet

janet, will receive that with pleasure.....the other two have been installed with clem on them as i will show you with pleasure when you visit!
too many yard chores to go shopping for supports, but hope to go to odd lots/big lots this weekend!

lucked into some new creative supports today. posted them on the hardwick hall more summer blooms thread. thought i should loop back here and post. these are christmas towers from grapevines that a local nursery sold with lights on them, these were left form last year, they gave me 66% off and removed the lights..i got 3, 2 huge 6+feet and one 4 ft. plan to grow multiple clems on each. they had no more or i would have bought them. they are grapevines around a trianglar pressure treated wood trellis....i think they will offer quite a few years of rustic support to clems.
i saw them to the side and rear of a nursery and asked if they wanted t get rid of them.
i feel i lucked out, but maybe there are more nurserys out there with stuff they want to get rid of.....i always look around in the back area and never hesitate to ask for a discount on something they obvously are over stocked on or may not want.
will be spring 2010 till they are covered with clematis vines, but that is right around the corner.....

Great idea! I will keep a lookout for something like that. Are you going to secure them with landscape pins?
I was thinking that there might be some new and other ways to make supports out of grapevine. The next city over from me is called Grapevine! And there is a vinery close by.

cool. yes will use a long landscape pin to secure i have some 10 inches. will use 5 or 6 per tower.....maybe grapevine, tx has some ideas?

Now that's creative. I never would have thought to use something like that.

necessity is the mother on invention. i went to every garden store near by looking for something different. these were at back of the garden center where no one would see them, outside. still not sure on placement.

CG, I would suggest on the other side of your berms so that in the seating area they are viewable... maybe at the end of each berm...

Janet

that could be good.

what is your beetle status? hope under control.

Well they seem to have slowed down some, except yesterday I came home from work and those darn things were on the leafs of the clem......

I hate them. I'm almost to the point of getting the sevine(sp) to spray on things.

Been swamped at work, garden club meetings and now back to ENT to have, well you don't want to know what they do to ya after having sinus surgery....LOL

So hopefully tonight when I get home I'll have my fingers on. Will try to get pictures of the new SSV clems. One that had next to nothing growing has taken off.... WOW is all I can say....

later folks

Janet

try the sevin,on the ground and leaves. get rid of them.