Here in Wisconsin, we are big fans of food on a stick. We are a practical and thrifty people, although our cholesterol is probably through the roof.

The State Fair’s food-on-a-stick offerings are truly astounding. Last year, fairgoers had a whopping 32 choices, including the highly controversial newbie, chocolate-covered bacon. I hear the cherry pie and fried PBJ are overrated, but the crab cakes sound tempting.

Anyway, sticks are useful. And in my yard, they’re free. Hence today’s project: using crap that hasn’t yet made its way to the local dump to expand a trellis.

Last summer a yew died right in the middle of a shrub bed in front of the garage, facing the street—an ugly sight we promptly removed. But now, instead of an ugly shrub, we have an ugly hole.

Fortuitously, the previous owners had installed two trellises on the garage wall right behind the hole. They had planted a clematis under one of the trellises, but it insists on wending its way through the yews instead of climbing the trellises—and not blooming, either.

All these happy accidents provided a golden opportunity to finally get something growing on those trellises. I chose a blue morning glory for one side and a white moonflower for the other, so something will be blooming both morning and evening. And to pick up the slack in the middle, I bought a black-eyed Susan vine, something I’ve always wanted to try. That will provide continuous bloom when its neighbor plants are sleeping. But the black-eyed Susan needed something to climb, so I dug through my collection of fallen sticks and wove them through the existing trellises to create one big trellis. A cheap fix, as long as the sticks hold up to the weight.

All the stars seem to be in alignment for this project, though. A beautiful little butterfly flitted into the scene just as I finished it and stepped back to assess the look. I’m taking it as a good omen. I’ll keep you posted.

Posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 1:53 pm. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.