Queen's Wreath as an arbor cover

11 years ago

It goes up a wire mesh (remesh), flops across the top mesh and drapes down the other side next to the house By the end of summer some of the strands were to the ground and it was a cool green tunnel.

It's not hard to remove: clip along the edges or the top mesh and it rolls up like a messy rug.

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User
Original Author

11 years ago

Grant - it's not difficult because the top part of the vine mostly just flops on the wire. It's not as entangled as it looks. You cut and remove various easy bits and cut it to the ground. I can clear the whole trellis in about an hour if I have help for the top.

Take down the lanterns!!!!!

I do it after the first killing frost - no attempt to decide what's alive or dead, it gets cut to the ground.

1 - Trim off the dangling ends and sides (red line)

2 - Cut along the edge of the top mesh between vertical and upper wire panels (we left about a foot of open space)

3 - Cut along the top of the vertical wire mesh (not shown here)

4 - For the top removal, roll the mat of vines off the wire from one end. Snip the few that cross under the wires.

5 - On the vertical part, I clip along the bottom edge of the wire mesh, then cut the vines to the ground to clear the base of the trellis. They pull and break easily.

6 - The upright mesh has access from both sides, so it's not too difficult. I work from the shaded side and whack the tendrils off as close to the wire as I can get with hedge clippers, then about every four feet I cut ALL the vines that cross onto my side to section it off into vertical mats.

7 - Then go to the outside of the wire and use a garden rake to pull the sections down.

That takes care of almost all of the vines, and I cut and yank out any the rake can't get.

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Comments (9)

newtoucan
11 years ago
Good idea. What mesh do you use? Does it die off in the winter which is why you roll it up?
dustdevil13
11 years ago
I love this idea. I have 2 smaller arbors that we walk under and I need some vines on them. I want to get one of those that Grant likes for one and maybe this for the other.

Do they die off in the Winter? Drought tolerant?
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MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
11 years ago
They will die back in winter. Not sure on water needs.
User
Original Author
11 years ago
Because the arbor is about 30 feet long, we used a 60" roll of concrete reinforcing mesh welded wire. I'll take better pics when I get to Phoenix.

One strip runs along the side of the arbor, covering from the top to about 3 feet from the ground (gives me room to garden underneath) the other runs across the top beams of the arbor, with about a foot gap on each side.

I run strings up from ground level to the wire mesh to get the vines up there - there are big screw eyes on either side of the uprights for this. When the vines reach the wire they spread out fast and have no problem finding the top wire mesh.

Armenian cucumber on the trellis ... it was fast coverage.
grant_in_arizona
11 years ago
This is SO NICE, lazy, thanks for posting it. I love both of these setups, although I DREAD the idea of removing the dead growth from a queen's wreath in winter. Glad to hear you don't think it's too bad a chore. You are tempting me, hah! I love queen's wreath and REALLY need someplace to grow one. Thanks for sharing your ingenuity with us! Happy gardening all!
grant_in_arizona
11 years ago
Awesome info and update, Lazy, thanks! I really like the look of it. I have to deal with cutting back my Merremia aurea each late winter and that's NOT easy, hah! Your system seems better! Thanks and happy gardening!
hariphx z9A Arizona
11 years ago
Nice pic, lazy_gardens. I was wondering how many queen's wreath vines you have for that arbor cover. I have one queens wreath vine, 5-6 years old growing over small tree, it hasnt spread

out like i expected it to.
User
Original Author
11 years ago
There are 4 of them.

They spread out because they have the trellis and top of the arbor, are heavily mulched and get watered with the veggies.