I’ve never been much for themes, especially contrived ones. You won’t ever find me glued in front of the television during “Shark Week” or refusing to go out to dinner because episode fifteen of the “Twilight Zone Marathon” is about to start. For me, purposely themed events are either an act of desperation (Shark Week) or just too much of a good thing (Twilight Zone Marathon–classic!). Now, if a theme just spontaneously happens… for example, like in our garden this year… that’s another story.  And this year, we seem to have a theme. This year, for whatever reason, we’ve responded to just about every garden issue with “How about a trellis?”

It started with the gourds. We knew… well, hoped… that our seedlings would grow into huge vines producing lots of lovely gourds. We had the perfect spot for them–the west side of the house where there was currently nothing but rocks and wild violets. Here was a garden space crying out for something different, something dramatic. A gigantic vine with interesting fruit seemed just the thing. Even so, we couldn’t just let it wander its way out into the yard, grabbing at everything with its twisty tendrils. How could we keep the vines under control? A trellis!

                   

Actually, two trellises with connecting ropes. This support system worked wonderfully, even though the vines eventually outgrew it and began to wander out into the yard… and up the side of the house… but who’s complaining? Not me. I planted these guys from seeds and I’m cheering them on!  It’s certainly a dramatic plant–huge lush leaves and dainty tissue-paper flowers; the interesting fruit part is still to come, we hope.

Trellises also make great privacy screens. Now that we have a stone patio complete with chiminea (thank you, Joe!), we’re spending more evenings sitting outside basking in the glow of the fire and gazing at the stars. And although most of our backyard is pretty private, this part is somewhat exposed to the street, and we live at the “top” of a “T” intersection, as you may be able to see  in the picture below. So, how could we make this backyard space a bit more cozy and private? A trellis! Actually, two trellises tied to the existing chain link fence. You can see them below… to the right of the rain barrel…

Here’s the view a bit later in the summer, looking in from the street side through the young cypress vines… It’s like peeking into another world, a world of peaceful greenery and soft warm breezes–my refuge!.

And here it is late in the season ⬇️

Hard to believe that all that vine came from just a few seeds!

Some trellises are more for the good of plants NOT actually growing on the trellis itself. Joe built and installed this one so we could grow vegetables on two levels–pole beans on top and everything else underneath! 

The plan was not entirely successful; the pole beans loved it, but the “lower level” plants still struggled to find space and sun. We’ll need to rethink vertical gardening for next year.

Our fourth trellis scenario involves the stars–namely the attempt to see more of them. Living inside the city limits, the number of stars we can see on any given night is pretty limited. It doesn’t help things, however, when the house a few doors down has what amounts to a streetlight in the backyard. Even when we’re not out back actively observing the night sky, this light pollution is intrusive. What we need is something to block the light… hmm… a trellis! Well, actually two trellises side-by-side. And these need to be TALL! So, Joe got to work building…

And I got to work painting…

And then Joe did the installation…

So, as you can see below, the trellises are tall enough to block the worst of the light’s glare–at least from our usual viewing perspective–as soon as the wisteria vine grows up a bit. It won’t eliminate all the sky glow, but it will make a significant difference in what we can see. We’ll probably plant a trumpet vine on the left side by the butterfly bush, just to be sure.  And bonus–more privacy!

I often think about the surprises that a garden offers… a new flower, a hidden fruit or vegetable, an invasion of aphids, a “volunteer,” the recovery of a plant that seemed almost dead and vice versa.  These (mostly) pleasant occurrences keep us on our toes and certainly add a bit of  spice to the gardening life without us (or despite us) doing anything.  But responsively working with a garden over the years is more satisfying to me. We work to create and prepare the space; the garden responds. We install a trellis; the plants oblige by covering it. We, in turn, respond to the garden… watering, weeding, mulching… et voila… a partnership is born.

Even though the partnership is hard work for us humans, I often think that we get the better end of the deal. A garden’s offering goes beyond the plants themselves. A garden is a generous entity… it gives so many things: beauty, fragrance, shape, texture, color, food, flavor, daily surprises…even–with its partners providing the trellises–privacy and a darker sky.