Making a border

17 years ago

I find myself with TONS of copper tubing and was thinking of ways to use copper to make about 200' of garden border. I plan to use copper tubing for the top of the border and use "T" joints every few feet, so I can run vertical tubing into the ground for support.

I've been looking at 6"/16 oz copper sheet to use on the border itself, but that comes out to about $700. Way too expensive.

What I'd really like to find is iron or steel plate. I'm actually looking for something that will readily rust and turn orange. The thing is, I can't figure out how to phrase a search so I can find it on the net. I'd appreciate any pointers.

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Comments (7)

duluthinbloomz4
17 years ago
Metal Salvage
Metal Recycling
Habitat for Humanity ReStores
Iron bars
scrap iron
scrap steel
steel sheets
Metal fabricators

How did you come by "tons' of copper tubing?
planter-in-tucker
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the tips.
TONS is a bit inflated, but I absolutely love copper. Over the years, I've made a number of copper trellises and borders. Two borders were 12'x6' and made up of six lengths of copper, stacked one atop another. I also got carried away and made a copper trellis that stretched from the ground to the roof of my house. I have another 10' high 2' wide rose trellis made of copper and a few dozen lengths of copper pipe and scrap. All of these pieces no longer serve their original purpose, so I'd like to use the copper as part of a new border.
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catkim
17 years ago
Might I persuade you to post a photo of one of your copper trellises? I like the look of weathered copper, sounds like it would make a very attractive trellis. How did you piece them together? Did you attach them to buildings or are they free standing?
missingtheobvious
17 years ago
Since you love copper, you might enjoy these old threads:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/design/msg041420347284.html -- click on the link in the first post

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/design/msg0122284411009.html -- boxofrox's posts and linked photos

There are other posts in other forums also, which you can access through this search (I didn't check to see which are better):
http://search.gardenweb.com/search/nph-ind.cgi?term=boxofrox+copper&forum=&forum_name=Landscape+Design
planter-in-tucker
Original Author
17 years ago
catkim,
The trellis was attached to the house and ran up the chimney. When I had my house re-sided last year, the trellis had to go. It's resting against a chainlink fence in the backyard. I'll try to prop it up and take a picture of it.
The rose trellis is freestanding. I used two parallel lengths of pipe, joined in the middle with a "T" joint and a small length of vertical pipe. For the arch, I used 45-degree angle joints. I soldered all these pieced together. The trellis looks a bit ungainly, but that's because the rose I'd planned to train over it was crowded out by a rampant fig tree.
I decided to make my trellises extra sturdy after a single-pole copper trellis suddenly buckled under the weight of an enormous rose.
My garden work seems to consist of elegantly-planned projects that seem to fail at some point. Still, I have fun.
karinl
17 years ago
I recently had a copper garden ornament stolen out of my (locked!) back yard. So use in visible locations with care... of course I do live in a dicey neighbourhood.

KarinL
cjra
17 years ago
We had a ton of copper tubing laying out in our yard when we re-did our plumbing (it was old, but we intended to salvage it). Someone got to it before we put it away....valuable stuff!