We’re really super proud of our Clematis ‘Jackmanii’. Every year it climbs a trellis that stretches up about 12 feet, all the way from the ground to the roof gutters.
This past weekend I cut back the ‘Jackmanii’ vines, which revealed an unpleasant truth: while our Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ is a beauty, the trellis it grows on is a mess.
This should not be too surprising. The trellis was put up by a guy named Eddie. Eddie was capable, cheerful, and honest – but this sort of job was really not in his area of expertise, as general as that expertise is.
His trellis was made of crisscrossed wooden lath fencing. It looked ok initially, but it is not holding up well. What we need is something sturdy and sleek and not so ramshackle.
Also, something tall. Which raises the question, why are so many of the trellises sold in garden centers uselessly short? How many vines are there that only grow to 6′ or less? Not many, in my experience, or at least I haven’t bought many.
So anyhow, I went searching on the internet for a reasonably tall trellis. Before too long, I found the Panacea Giant Wall Trellis on the Gardener’s Supply website. I would call it an adequate, not a giant, wall trellis. It’s 9 feet tall, sufficient but not quite as tall as I’d like. It’s also 2 and a half feet wide, which means I’ll probably need 3 of them.
Now at last we can have a more suitable trellis to display Clematis ‘Jackmanii’. Ironically, though, this year our ‘Jackmanii’ might not be so hale and hearty. Construction of the new driveway narrowed the root run, and I’m not sure how that will impact the plant. Hopefully any diminution will be temporary.
In any case, I’m looking forward to installing the new trellis. It comes with brackets for attaching to the wall, so you don’t need to set it in concrete or anything like that.
What’s the tallest trellis in your garden?
Beautiful.
Thanks.
It looks stunning!
Thank you. This Clematis blooming is one of the highlights of the gardening year.
What a gardener won’t do for the show-offs! I hope those gorgeous blooms will rebound from any damage.
Keeping my fingers crossed.
Funny you should write about taller trellises. I am in need of taller trellises too. My tallest is not tall at all maybe 6 ft. I have a Jackmanii that balls up on itself on a mere 5′ trellis. Best of luck with your trellis replacement.
Thanks. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Gonna be gorgeous, Jason! I watched the video on Gardeners Supply website. Do you, too, plan to maintain all 9′ aboveground by not sinking the posts into the soil and just wall mounting it? Seems as if two panels would do the job, three would extend beyond wall? Hope the excavation during the paver project didn’t damage this happy clematis! My tallest trellis is a 4′ by 8′ but it loses a foot when I put it in the ground. Good luck with your project. I look forward to the post on installation.
I was thinking that all 9′ would be aboveground. You may be right about just 2 panels.
Or you could do three and stair step them with the one on the left side being freestanding and sunk into the soil? Such a fun dilemma to have!
I’ve noticed the same thing~trellises and arches are woefully small and flimsy. Most of the tuteurs I’ve found are, too. You are right to be proud of this magnificent clematis! Beautiful. Since the trellis you found is wall-mounted, perhaps you could mount it a bit higher in the middle section, to gain another foot or two?
There’s a thought. It would be nice to have it all the way up to the roof gutters, as our current trellis is.
Now that you mention it .. most trellises we have are not very tall … this is frustrating as plants grow … we have a climbing rose that Grows so high it starts to fall under the weight of its blossoms.
Right? And you can say the same of many vining plants.
That’s a stunner! Have you considered just doing wires (with tighteners) run vertically or in a diamond grid?
No, but that’s an interesting idea.
I have an 8 foot trellis that I made for an autumn clematis. It overwhelmed it the second summer.
Yours is one of the best jackmaniis I’ve seen.
The autumn clematis is way more rampant than the Jackmanii.
I remember those flowers. Who could forget them? It might not work because of the plant’s nature, but since the trellis is wall mounted, could you gain a foot or two of height by rigging up something at the bottom for the plants to climb until they get to the trellis itself?
Actually, I think the plants would get a foot or two up without much or any assistance.
I do not work with trellises, but my colleague here does. Some are pretty shoddy. Fortunately, the vines that are on them are mostly docile. Some climb into adjacent trees. The biggest vine is an unknown grapevine (dago wisteria) that I strung from a split rail fence at the top of a high retaining wall to another iron fence on a building across the way. Yes, it is pretty shoddy too, but I sort of like it. I don’t know how it will get pruned next year.
Most that are sold at garden centers and big box stores are pretty shoddy, as you say.
The shoddiest are the trellises I wove with the dead lower limbs of redwoods. Most of such limbs are about the same size, with about the same curve, and they are very resistant to rot. They last a long time . . . but I sort of would prefer that they didn’t.
I don’t know, sounds like they could be nice in a rustic sort of way.
They are ‘efficient’. They might be nice for vines that obscure them.
I have several of the 6′ ones. The one you have chosen is gorgeous, tall, and has good reviews, but three would wipe out my ‘retired’ plant budget. 🙂
Yeah, I’m terrible about keeping to a budget.
Hello Jason, I’ve always been jealous of your Jackmanii Clematis from the first time I saw it, it’s just so eye-arrestingly beautiful. I agree the majority of trellis is useless and the hight advertised (short as it is) also tends to include the bit you need to sink into the ground. I wonder if a more custom trellis would be better – made of very tall fence posts (concreted in), braced across the top and infilled with wire mesh or wire runs?
I would love to have a custom-made trellis. You may remember that Tammy has all kind of custom-made iron plant supports.
Your Clematis looks indeed heavenly, absolutely gorgeous.
My highest trellis is only about 4 feet tall and it’s not enough for the Wisterias that grow in containers, but it’s ok, because the plants must be moved indoors for the winter and also the trellis is stored indoors. 🙂
Soon it’s March, yippee! Happy gardening!
Yes, today is March 3. For now at least all the snow is melted. I have a Kentucky Wisteria, not quite as overwhelming as the Chinese. I still need to come up with a plan to support it when it matures.
Hi Jason .. I am glad you found suitable ones and at a price that doesn’t make you cringe I hope ?
That is my problem here .. trellises cost a fortune .. I am always on the look out for them so some of my clematis can really stretch out .. I usually have them going sideways .. I have a nice purple one against the side of the house in a raised bed (this morning my brain refuses to remember the name of it of course) but that is how I got around the need for it to “run” .. a sideways course ? LOL
Gorgeous Jackmanii.
I do have the President running up the frame of a dead lilac tree .. so that was another problem solver.
I’m trying to grow a Kentucky Wisteria up a dead Japanese Yew. Not sure I will be successful. As for cost, I am terrible at keeping to a budget when it comes to the garden.
The new trellis will look smart, at least in the winter. I just adore that clematis.xxx
Thank you!
That clematis is stunning!
Thank you! We’re very proud of it.
I have never seen a trellis that seems tall enough. I had a thought to build one with remesh and 2x4s but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
That might be beyond my engineering abilities.
I love the clematis and the new trellises. I have 3 – 8 foot long trellises with confederate jasmine growing on them. I used 4 ft high iron fence sections turned on their ends and had a fence company install posts and weld the fence sections to the posts. They are strong and I have no worries that they’ll be too flimsy. And the best part is that I got the fence sections nearly free. The only cost was getting the fence company to install them. The trellises, with the evergreen jasmine, shade a section of my house that gets direct sun all summer. I couldn’t be happier with it.
That sounds just wonderful.