My Tuteur

When redoing the rocks around the clematis bed in the center of the perennial garden I discovered the tag for the clematis and learned that it grows to 12 feet.  The trellis I had for it was no where near that height so I went looking for something else for it to grow on.  I've been wanting to do something with the downed wood I have around the property so when I happened upon this description of a rustic tuteur I knew I had found what I needed.

This afternoon Dan built it for me and I was the carpenter's helper.  I couldn't have done it by myself.  It definitely requires 4 hands. We modified the directions because it was easier to give it stability by putting on the cross pieces below before screwing the tops together.  We used large rubber bands to hold the tops together.  Also I wanted the tuteur to go higher than where we connected it because one of my branches was 13 feet tall.  I thought it looked more interesting with the branches going on in different directions.  I haven't added twine because that's just for looks.  I may still do that.

Once I got it into the garden I discovered we had made it wider at the base than the clematis bed so I had to rebuild that rock wall.

 

I transplanted some forget me knots into this bed.

 I've placed flat rocks around the clematis to keep its roots cool.  I also helped it to climb by tying the top of the vine to the post.  I hope it makes it to the top this year.

 

Here it is looking west.  The bed on the left has had the rock walls straightened.  The one on the right is next to do.

 

 Here's how I do this task.  Run a line. Sit on my bench and bend over to move the rocks in place.  Weed the bed while I'm down there.

 Look what's blooming now!