Sunday, November 30, 2008

Trellis and Tuteur

Trellis and Tuteur......doesn't it roll off the tongue like Chocolate and Zucchini? Fanny and Alexander? Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? OK, forget about the last one.

Most of us are familiar with trellises. They provide support for climbing plants as well as adding a vertical element to gardens. Tuteurs, also known as obelisks, are similar but are pyramidal as opposed to flat.


It was easy finding an unstained trellis at a local nursery, but no one carried a wooden tuteur. One day, I had to run an errand and on the way home, I decided to stop at Lowe's and do a little "window shopping". I hadn't been back to this store since we finished our house remodel.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw about 50 of these wooden obelisks stacked in the back. Obviously, shipment day. I controlled myself and bought only one. The only problem was, it was stained a light green color which made it disappear into the garden. I wanted it to stand out more. So off to the paint store to get a couple of sample colors of Cabot stain.

I settled on Federal Blue which was a bit darker than the exterior walls so it stood out nicely.  For the tuteur, it was an easy matter to just place it in the garden and just check for level.

For the trellis, I hung it from four metal brackets rather than attaching it directly to the house exterior walls. This way when the house needs to be painted, I can lift the trellis off the brackets and gently fold it away from the wall with the climbing rose still attached to the trellis.






That's Rosa 'Felicia' on the trellis!

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