Trellis project, completed?

The other day when I listed my planned garden projects for the summer, doing something with this trellis...

...was on the list. It originally contained a climbing rose and was therefore not very visible -- just a glimpse of tarnished copper pipe through the rose canes and foliage was perfect. Since that rose was removed (RRV) this trellis just looks too insubstantial...

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...and since I have to look at it through the kitchen window each day...

...and since there is a young clematis vine now looking for a way to climb upwards...

...I had to do something! In that other post I mentioned that I had a good idea of how to fix this, so I jumped into the project first thing this extended holiday weekend.

The main ingredient is 1/4" hardware cloth:

I used it to create semi-solid panels in the trellis. I've envisioned it for months now, and was convinced it was going to look great. (It does!)

To cut the hardware cloth I used my tin snips (because they spring open):

It was somewhat tedious, especially since I wanted to have clean edges so every cut required two passes: the first to separate the panel, the second to trim off the stubs:

I tried using 1/2" hardware cloth because I was concerned that the holes of the 1/4" would be too small for the vine to grasp, but the 1/2" cloth didn't look nearly as good as the 1/4" did, so I chose looks over function. (The vines always find a way to climb, don't they?)

I was planning on using copper wire to attach the panels, but when I used some zip ties to temporarily hold the first panel I decided that they'd be good enough, at least short term while I figure out a permanent solution:

I wanted to use black ties but couldn't find them. (I found them the next day.)

With all of the panels attached, let's take a look!

The vines now have something to grasp, especially down low where it really counts:

I think it looks especially good against the dark bamboo:

The shininess of the panels will eventually fade, but even then the panels will provide substance and still look nice I think. Most of the summer this will be covered by vines but now there's no hurry for them to grow -- the bare trellis is pretty on its own.

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out!

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