Make a plant support out of cattle panel wire
If recent tweets among Austin garden bloggers are any indication, we’ve snapped up pot after pot of ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome at the Natural Gardener and at Home Depots all over town this spring, and I made sure to grab two for myself in the buying frenzy. Last year I trialed this Proven Winners annual (perennial in zones 8-10, but it didn’t survive our hard freezes), and it performed spectacularly through record heat and drought, growing big and bushy in part sun and flowering spring through fall. You couldn’t find ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome in area nurseries or garden centers last season, but this year, to my delight, it’s available. It’s also offered online at White Flower Farm.
It’s a great plant. The only problem I’ve documented with it is splitting after a heavy rain. One of last year’s cleomes split right in half, leaving a gaping hole in the mass of foliage. So this time I’m giving the Senoritas some support.
I saw this idea at the Wildflower Center last winter (above) and decided to try it at home. I cut a long section of cattle-panel wire to a width of 3 squares, and on each end I snipped the cross pieces off to a length of 2 squares, creating staking legs. Holding the wire upright and then bowing it away from me, I stood on one end of it and bent the wire into a U-shape. Centering it over the cleome, I pushed the staking legs into the ground.
I considered painting the wire a fun color, as Lindy McGinnis did with cattle-panel trellises I saw in her garden on tour. But since I have a galvanized-silver thing going with all my stock tanks, I opted to leave the wire as-is and let it blend into the background.
I made another support for my ‘Ava’ agastache, which is also prone to splitting, according to High Country Gardens owner David Salman (see his comment on my agastache post, linked above). Cattle panel is a sturdy wire, and as the cleomes and agastache grow up through the holes, their top-heavy stems will be supported.
Cattle panel is a fantastic material for gardening projects like trellises, screens, and fencing. It comes in 20-ft. lengths and can be purchased at Callahan’s General Store in Austin, which is also where I buy my stock tanks. They’ll cut it in half for you if you ask. You need to use bolt cutters and arm muscle to snip it, and it’s a good idea to wear gloves when handling it, as the cut edges are sharp.
In my former garden I used a full piece of cattle panel to construct a trellis screen to divide my garden. Click for my how-to. When I moved, I disassembled that screen and brought the wire panel with me, which I used to make my plant supports. That’s the other great thing about cattle panel: it’s easily repurposed for the next project.
All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
A perennial cleome in zones 8-10? Yikes. Another plant that I MUST have (boy is this a challenging time of year…I’ve been avoiding the nurseries on purpose, and now this!). Great tip about the support – I have some fencing (not that exact kind) and that might work with a few of my taller salvias too.
I have been thinking about a panel for my honeysuckle to grow on. This looks like a great idea. I had forgotten about using cattle wire. Thanks for the tip. I guess these cleomes don’t seed themselves. The old fashioned ones can become quite a pest with all their seeding around. It is sort of fun finding them who knows where. Easy to pull out but ya gotta watch them. They are as tough as this one too.
Proven Winners says ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome is sterile, Lisa, and I didn’t get any seedlings from it. I wouldn’t have minded. —Pam
Pam, I wonder if we can get a similar panel here? I’ve long admired it. Although, there is no way anyone could pound a pole 2 feet into the ground here to construct a trellis! Thanks for the link to Senorita Rosalita. gail ps The clay chimney liners make clever containers.
Gail, the ends are stuck into the ground only about 4 or 5 five inches, not 2 feet. I hope you can find the cattle panel in your area. —Pam
I like the use of cattle panels. I’ve not seen that cleome, but will look for it as it is definitely a deer resistant bloomer.
Now there is going to be a rush for cattle panels. I did purchase a Senorita Rosalita at Home Depot the other day. They should definitely thank YOU for the increase demand of this hardy plant! Thanks for the tip about the support with the cattle panel. Have a wonderful Easter!
I love those cattle panels. I have those green plastic covered flower supports that I was going to use for my ‘Ava’ agastache but I’m now thinking the green will clash with the gray leaves more than a cattle panel will. I better get moving on that quickly as the agastache is starting to grow.
You know how much I love that plant. Fabulous. I also adore agastaches, but here, I had to planted them with gravel in the hole for more drainage. They were rotting in place until I did that. I love the cattle guard idea. You do have a stock tank/silver thing going on.~~Dee
I saw that you found them in OK this year, Dee. I guess PW finally decided to widely distribute them. —Pam
Oh, dear. Now, another plant I NEED. And, Cameron says it’s deer resistant. Hope I can find one.
Have a Happy Easter.
What a wonderful idea for providing support for floppy plants. I love the creative use of products designed for other purposes!
How does this cleome perform in full sun? It reminds me of ‘Linde Armstrong,’ but that one bronzed in sun and almost croaked, but did OK in light shade.
I don’t know, Grumpy, as I have no full-sun locations in my back garden. In searing Austin summers—and perhaps searing Alabama summers—many “full-sun” plants perform best with some shade. Since so many of the Austin garden bloggers are trying this cleome in their gardens this summer, we’ll know more about its performance by this fall. I’ll keep you updated. —Pam
As a fellow stock tank lover I suppose it’s no surprise that I love this material, thank you for introducing me to it! Now I need to track some down in the Portland area….
I think Proven Winners decided to put the plant on the market in Austin due to your favorable feedback. I have mine, and thanks for the heads up on support. Mine is in full sun which is where I grew cleomes a year ago. Thanks for introducing us to this plant. On the subject of cattle panels; I am using the piece I got from bob as a tomato support. I fastened it to 2 metal stakes. I saw this idea in square foot gardening and thought I would give it a try.
Pam, this cleome was a winner here in SoCalif too, in full sun. Since we get no rain all summer, I had no problem with it splitting, and it stayed bushy and upright all season but had bloomed itself into exhaustion by late fall — I always wonder when such floriferous plants are claimed to be perennial in my zone. It’s often just not the case. And I don’t recall that particular photo of your old garden, but it’s a beauty. Cattle panel is hard to come by locally but what versatility. I also like the fencing with two sides of cattle panel filled with rocks, but can never remember the name for it.
Gabion walls, right? I’ve seen a few of those here in Austin, Denise. —Pam
I love using cattle panels. I made a curved wall with one and planted it with vines. Lovely cleome
I sure would like 1 each of the Cleomes.I think they are all pretty. I will put them on my wish list.
That is an ingenious idea with the cattle wire. I will have to see if my area farm supply has it.
Like the chimney liners for pots also. I had thought about that several yrs. ago but never got around to getting any.
I need to run by my Home Depot and see if they have the Cleomes. I have several pieces of leftover cattle panel hanging in the garage and could use some of it for supports. I don’t have any wire cutters for such heavy gauge wire, though. I’ll add it to my Home Depot shopping list.
Bolt cutters work well, Cindy. —Pam
What a novel idea. And having seen your trellis panels, I think you may have given me a solution for hiding the utility boxes in my corner bed. Now I need to see where I can purchase cattle panels.
You did use those panels Pam and used them well I see. I forgot to tell you a good way to put them together. At Callahans or any hardware store, you can get hog rings and hog ring pliers. A box of a hundred rings is about three dollars and the pliers are a couple dollars more. There are grooves in the pliers that you put a ring into. Pull two panels together and squeeze a ring around them. Just that easy. You can twist them off again with pliers as well. If you use 3/8″ rebar for stakes, the rings are just big enough to go around it and the panel wire.
I bought two of the cleomes as well. I’m glad Robin alerted us. They are as beautiful as they were in your pictures.
I used all your cattle panel pieces to armadillo-proof my fence, Bob—another excellent use for this stuff. Thanks for the tip about the hog rings. The gardener who made the green trellis pictured above used plastic zip ties, which I also thought was a good idea. —Pam
Wow, you are not messing around!:)
Very clever, Pam. I confess, I fail to see what all the hype is about with regards to the cleomes–I’ve never grown them, don’t like the look of or smell of them, but I keep seeing my blogging buddies raving about this one, so I’m intrigued. I’ll be watching to see how the support does for you. It looks like a terrific way to support many plants.
Its great using farming stuff in the garden – so much cheaper than ‘garden design’ products. In the UK ‘cattle panels’ aren’t so easy to get hold of but we have something similar called ‘pig wire’ but it’s very heavy duty and needs at least one man to bend it. I use a 3m panel bent into a big ‘U’ shape to put over beans, peas and squashes. The wire rusts rather attractively and hangs with the veg, which have needed no tying in or any work to keep them off the ground and well supported.
Can you propogate the Cleome Senorita?
I love this plant, I do not know what zone I am in. I am just north of Houston. If you know let me know thanks
I’m not in the propagating business, and Proven Winners says this plant is sterile. However, a Google search should turn up some places to order it online, if you can’t find it locally. —Pam
I know this article is old but I just came across your panel support idea on Pinterest so I stopped by. It looks great. I also love your clay pipe raised beds. I collected a few of those last year for free and can’t wait to put them to use.