25 DIY Garden Trellis Ideas for Every Skill Level and Budget
There's nothing like a trellis to add romance to the garden—and it's practical too.
A trellis can add lots of cottage garden charm to your little plot or collection of patio plants. And while you can buy a great trellis online or at your local garden center, you can also make one. Here, we’ve gathered a range of unique DIY trellis ideas, running the gamut from beginner to advanced skill levels. You can fashion a cheap trellis out of cut saplings and twine. Or, if you're handy with power tools, you can build an impressive freestanding pergola or an eye-catching honeycomb design to enhance a fence (see idea number 5).
Whether you need a structure for romantic flowering vines, such as roses, clematis, or mandevilla—or on the more practical side, vining veggies like cucumbers or pole beans—a trellis can take on a variety of forms. It might be a soaring obelisk, an arch to set off a pathway or entrance, a lean-to ladder for peas to climb, or an attachment to a wall or fence. A large, flat trellis can also be used as a privacy wall or divider for a patio or garden room.
Looking for something to use instead of a trellis? Try repurposing a salvaged window, ladder, or pallet—with a little ingenuity, you can even transform a set of old garden tools into a trellis-like structure (see idea number 24). One thing is for sure: Whatever your skill level, budget, purpose, or style, whether modern or rustic, you’ll find a trellis project idea here to suit you. Happy DIY'ing!
Salvaged Window Trellis
A salvaged window proves the perfect support for a climbing vine. Remove the glass panes and hang on a wall (or rest on your potting shed worktable). Set a potted plant such as Asiatic jasmine (pictured) or clematis next to it. As the vine grows, tie it to the window’s framework using twine.
Branches and Twine Teepee Trellis
We love the rustic look of sweet peas scrambling up cut saplings, such as poplar or birch, tied with twine. Though not exactly the same project, you can learn the basic techniques for this trellis idea by watching this YouTube tutorial (the project in the video uses purchased cane instead of saplings).
DIY Pergola
Pergolas, also known as trellises and arbors, can be used not only as a support structure for crawling vines, but also to define outdoor spaces and create cooling shade. This one would be lovely for roses, jasmine, or grapes. Before building yours, be sure to call your utilities offices and note the location of underground lines. You’re going to need to sink the footing to one-quarter the height of the post.
Get the tutorial at A Piece of Rainbow.
T-Post Trellis
This sweet, rustic little trellis can be made from simply two T-posts, poplar sapling twigs, and twine, though you can use zip ties instead of the latter for added strength. Use bigger branches on the bottom and smaller ones up top, alternating the thick ends on each row.
Get the tutorial at Chicken Scratch NY.
Honeycomb Trellis
Lovely in itself, this hexagon-shaped honeycomb trellis will add serious zing to your property. Use a miter saw to make the hexagonal cuts, then mount the trellis onto a fence, making sure it screws into all the horizontal supports.
Get the tutorial at Mama Needs a Project.
Espaliered Fruit Trees
Looking for a trellis idea that provides some privacy? Though you'll need to give it time to grow, a row of fruit trees espaliered along a trellis can make a beautiful (and delicious) living fence.
For a similar look, get the tutorial at StarkBros.
Fancy Trellis
This beautifully made trellis is suitable for showing off at the entrance to your home, especially draped with a flowering vine like clematis. Be sure to use pressure-treated lumber and a stain/sealer so it stands the test of time.
Get the tutorial at HandyDadTV.
Cedar Board Clematis Trellis
Just about everybody loves the privacy tall fences bring, but they can also look fairly uninspiring. Jazz up your backyard barrier with a clematis trellis that will give flowering vines the support they need to climb high. For this project, cedar boards cut into short, 1 ½-inch-wide strips make the perfect trellis material.
Get the tutorial at The Handyman’s Daughter.
Wire Wall Trellis
Shouldn’t all brick walls have at least a few vines crawling over them? You can help get picturesque greenery going on your brick with this wire trellis, which uses masonry anchors, eye hooks and cable wire to create a foundation for your plants to cover.
Get the tutorial at Salvaged Living.
Fir Board Trellis with Planter Box
Two projects in one, this trellis is mounted inside a handy planter. Even better, the box has casters mounted on the bottom, making it easy to move. Along with the casters, be sure to add drainage holes to the bottom of the planter to keep your plants healthy.
Get the tutorial at Deuce Cities Henhouse.
No-Weld Copper Trellis
You don’t need to be able to weld to assemble this delicate copper pipe trellis—just be sure have some Gorilla Glue at the ready. And think how lovely that copper will look draped in vines when it begins to weather to a pale green patina.
Get the tutorial at 33 Shades of Green.
Rustic Birch Trellis Ladder
Whether you’d like to use this homey ladder as a true trellis, or as a support system for pails of posies and other seasonal decorations, it will be a lovely addition to your porch or patio. Craft it from black birch saplings or the limbs of other visually unique trees to give it extra appeal.
Get the tutorial at Ashbee Design.
Crisscross Wall Trellis
This elegant crisscross trellis can be used in the most formal of outdoor spaces to support climbing foliage like pink bower vines. If you have a fountain or artwork you’d like to highlight, think about leaving out the center “X” and placing the piece within the space, using the trellis as its frame.
Get the tutorial at Centsational Style.
Rustic Sapling Trellis
Whimsical and deeply charming, this trellis is made with green saplings, which are bent into a hoop shape and wedged between large rocks for about two weeks, until they’re dry. The ends are then placed in wood inserts buried in the earth at either side of the walkway, the saplings lashed together with jute twine for extra stability.
Get the tutorial at Ellen Ecker Ogden.
DIY Garden Obelisk
You can use this simple, cheery obelisk for everything from a tomato cage to a trellis for roses, depending on your needs. Easily assembled out of pine, it can be topped with a weather vane, or coated with protective tung oil instead of paint.
Get the tutorial at Flower Patch Farmhouse.
Cattle Panel Trellis
A perfect space saver for those of us with little room to garden, this clever trellis made from metal cattle panels enables you to grow goodies like cucumbers, pole peas, and beans up instead of out. After trimming and halving the panel, use hog rings or cable ties to join them. This trellis saves space in the winter as well, by folding flat for storage.
Get the tutorial at Frugal Family Home.
Easy Twine Pea Trellis
Kids will love to lend a hand making this adorable, tiny trellis for pea plants. After building the frame out of four bamboo poles joined by twine, run the twine up and down the frame, keeping it taut. With a little coaxing, the pea tendrils will take to the twine just fine.
Get the tutorial at Garden Therapy.
DIY Freestanding Trellis
Easy, efficient, and, at less than $10 for materials, incredibly cost-effective too—this trellis is built from just four 1 in. x 2 in. x 8 ft. furring strip boards, glue, and brad nails. You can customize the size to suit the needs of your garden as well.
Get the tutorial at Hydrangea Treehouse.
Pea Trellis
Perfect for peas or any vining plant, this five-foot-tall trellis can also be built shorter or higher, depending on your needs. For slightly sturdier, thicker trellis, as seen here, you can use 2 in. x 2 in. boards.
Get the tutorial at Jen Gilday Interiors.
Trellis Wall
Pretty as a picture even without bougainvillea creeping over them, these expandable wood trellis panels create visual interest where there was once only a blank wall. If you’re planting something as leafy as bougainvillea, make sure to hang the trellises several inches from the wall, so the vines have space to grow around and through them.
Get the tutorial at Jenna Sue Design.
Jill Gleeson is a travel journalist and memoirist based in the Appalachian Mountains of western Pennsylvania who has written for websites and publications including Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Country Living, Washingtonian, Gothamist, Canadian Traveller, and EDGE Media Network. Jill is the travel editor for Enchanted Living. Learn more about her journey at gleesonreboots.com.
Terri Robertson is the Senior Editor, Digital, at Country Living, where she shares her lifelong love of homes, gardens, down-home cooking, and antiques.
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