A Salvaged Window Makes the Most Charming DIY Garden Trellis
A trellis can add lots of cottage garden charm to your little plot or collection of patio plants. And while you can buy a great trellis online or at your local garden center, you can also make one. Here, we’ve gathered a range of unique DIY trellis ideas, running the gamut from beginner to advanced skill levels. You can fashion a cheap trellis out of only foraged branches and twine, or pull out the power tools to build an impressive freestanding pergola or an eye-catching honeycomb design to enhance a fence (see idea number 5).
Whether you need a structure for romantic flowering vines, such roses, clematis, or mandevilla, or on the more practical side, vining veggies like cucumbers or pole beans, trellises can take on a variety of forms. They might be a soaring obelisk, an arch to set off a pathway or entrance, a lean-to ladder for peas to climb, or an attachment to a wall or fence. A large, flat trellis can also be used as a privacy wall or divider for a patio or garden room.
Looking for something to use instead of a trellis? Try repurposing a salvaged window, ladder, or pallet—with a little ingenuity, you can even transform a set of old garden tools into a trellis-like structure (see idea number 24). One thing is for sure: Whatever your skill level, budget, purpose, or style, whether modern or rustic, you’ll find a trellis project idea here to suit you. Happy DIY'ing!
(Melissa Ross - Getty Images)
A salvaged window proves the perfect support for a climbing vine. Remove the glass panes and hang on a wall (or rest on your potting shed worktable). Set a potted plant such as Asiatic jasmine (pictured) or clematis next to it. As the vine grows, tie it to the window’s framework using twine.
RELATED: How to Repurpose Junkyard Finds In Your Garden
(Becky Stayner)
We love the rustic look of sweet peas scrambling up foraged branches, but you can also use purchased cane branches for this trellis idea. Though not exactly the same project, you can learn the basic techniques for this simple structure by watching this YouTube tutorial.
(TorriPhoto - Getty Images)
Pergolas, also known as trellises and arbors, can be used not only as a support structure for crawling vines, but also to define outdoor spaces and create cooling shade. This one would be lovely for roses, jasmine, or grapes. Before building yours, be sure to call your utilities offices and note the location of underground lines. You’re going to need to sink the footing to one-quarter the height of the post.
Get the tutorial at A Piece of Rainbow.
(A Piece of Rainbow)
This sweet, rustic little trellis can be made from simply two T-posts, poplar sapling twigs, and twine, though you can use zip ties instead of the latter for added strength. Use bigger branches on the bottom and smaller ones up top, alternating the thick ends on each row.
Get the tutorial at Chicken Scratch NY.
(Chicken Scratch NY)
Lovely in itself, this hexagon-shaped honeycomb trellis will add serious zing to your property. Use a miter saw to make the hexagonal cuts, then mount the trellis onto a fence, making sure it screws into all the horizontal supports.
Get the tutorial at Mama Needs a Project.
(Mama Needs a Project)
Looking for a trellis idea that provides some privacy? Though you'll need to give it time to grow, a row of fruit trees espaliered along a trellis can make a beautiful (and delicious) living fence.
For a similar look, get the tutorial at StarkBros.
(Getty Images)
This beautifully made trellis is suitable for showing off at the entrance to your home, especially draped with a flowering vine like clematis. Be sure to use pressure-treated lumber and a stain/sealer so it stands the test of time.
Get the tutorial at HandyDadTV.
(HandyDadTV)
Just about everybody loves the privacy tall fences bring, but they can also look fairly uninspiring. Jazz up your backyard barrier with a clematis trellis that will give flowering vines the support they need to climb high. For this project, cedar boards cut into short, 1 ½-inch-wide strips make the perfect trellis material.
Get the tutorial at The Handyman’s Daughter.
(The Handyman's Daughter)
Shouldn’t all brick walls have at least a few vines crawling over them? You can help get picturesque greenery going on your brick with this wire trellis, which uses masonry anchors, eye hooks and cable wire to create a foundation for your plants to cover.
Get the tutorial at Salvaged Living.
(Salvaged Living)
Two projects in one, this trellis is mounted inside a handy planter. Even better, the box has casters mounted on the bottom, making it easy to move. Along with the casters, be sure to add drainage holes to the bottom of the planter to keep your plants healthy.
Get the tutorial at Deuce Cities Henhouse.
(Deuce Cities Henhouse)
You don’t need to be able to weld to assemble this delicate copper pipe trellis—just be sure have some Gorilla Glue at the ready. And think how lovely that copper will look draped in vines when it begins to weather to a pale green patina.
Get the tutorial at 33 Shades of Green.
(33 Shades of Green)
Whether you’d like to use this homey ladder as a true trellis, or as a support system for pails of posies and other seasonal decorations, it will be a lovely addition to your porch or patio. Craft it from black birch saplings or the limbs of other visually unique trees to give it extra appeal.
Get the tutorial at Ashbee Design.
(Ashbee Design)
This elegant crisscross trellis can be used in the most formal of outdoor spaces to support climbing foliage like pink bower vines. If you have a fountain or artwork you’d like to highlight, think about leaving out the center “X” and placing the piece within the space, using the trellis as its frame.
Get the tutorial at Centsational Style.
(Centsational Style)
Whimsical and deeply charming, this trellis is made with green saplings, which are bent into a hoop shape and wedged between large rocks for about two weeks, until they’re dry. The ends are then placed in wood inserts buried in the earth at either side of the walkway, the saplings lashed together with jute twine for extra stability.
Get the tutorial at Ellen Ecker Ogden.
(Ellen Ecker Ogden)
You can use this simple, cheery obelisk for everything from a tomato cage to a trellis for roses, depending on your needs. Easily assembled out of pine, it can be topped with a weather vane, or coated with protective tung oil instead of paint.
Get the tutorial at Flower Patch Farmhouse.
(Flower Patch Farmhouse)
A perfect space saver for those of us with little room to garden, this clever trellis made from metal cattle panels enables you to grow goodies like cucumbers, pole peas, and beans up instead of out. After trimming and halving the panel, use hog rings or cable ties to join them. This trellis saves space in the winter as well, by folding flat for storage.
Get the tutorial at Frugal Family Home.
(Frugal Family Home)
Kids will love to lend a hand making this adorable, tiny trellis for pea plants. After building the frame out of four bamboo poles joined by twine, run the twine up and down the frame, keeping it taut. With a little coaxing, the pea tendrils will take to the twine just fine.
Get the tutorial at Garden Therapy.
(Garden Therapy)
Easy, efficient, and, at less than $10 for materials, incredibly cost-effective too—this trellis is built from just four 1 in. x 2 in. x 8 ft. furring strip boards, glue, and brad nails. You can customize the size to suit the needs of your garden as well.
Get the tutorial at Hydrangea Treehouse.
(Hydrangea Treehouse)
Perfect for peas or any vining plant, this five-foot-tall trellis can also be built shorter or higher, depending on your needs. For slightly sturdier, thicker trellis, as seen here, you can use 2 in. x 2 in. boards.
Get the tutorial at Jen Gilday Interiors.
(Jen Gilday Interiors)
Pretty as a picture even without bougainvillea creeping over them, these expandable wood trellis panels create visual interest where there was once only a blank wall. If you’re planting something as leafy as bougainvillea, make sure to hang the trellises several inches from the wall, so the vines have space to grow around and through them.
Get the tutorial at Jenna Sue Design.
(Jenna Sue Design)
Practical, but smart-looking, these trellises will add weight and structure to your patio or porch. You can make the build faster and easier by using pre-fabricated latticework, but think about adding a frame made with 2 x 2 pressure-treated lumber around the trellis to give it a more finished look.
Get the tutorial at Love Grows Wild.
(Love Grows Wild)
Get your cukes off the ground and away from insects and diseases found in the soil with this quick, easy trellis made from a wood pallet. No tools are required—just bailing twine and two posts—and you can even plant another row of crops like lettuce and radishes underneath the pallet.
Get the tutorial at Lovely Greens.
(Lovely Greens)
Using the eternally stylish chevron shape for lattice is genius, guaranteeing your garden will have a slightly modern flair—especially if you spray paint the trellis black. Add clay flower pots to the trellis with zip ties.
Get the tutorial at Remodelaholic.
(Remodelaholic)
This playful trellis doubles as garden art and is a good use of broken or worn-out tools like rakes, hoes, shovels, spades, and the like. Simply shave down the ends of the tools into a stake shape, then attach cross slats made from sealed scrap wood using glue or a nail gun. Finish with jute twine at the connection points. The more weathered the sculpture becomes, the more its charm increases.
Get the tutorial at Sadie Seasongoods.
(Sadie Seasongoods)
Sleek and slim, these trellises offer simple, unfussy lines that contrast nicely with the heavier, more traditional raised planters installed beneath them. You can keep the look clean and bright by using two coats of an exterior semi-gloss paint; for extra ease, use a sprayer.
Get the tutorial at Yellow Brick Home.
(Yellow Brick Home)"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Find unique garden trellis ideas for all skill levels and styles modern and rustic. Make a cheap trellis for cucumbers or peas, or build a pergola for roses