Our Wall Of Honeysuckle
See how our wall of honeysuckle added character to the exterior of our home and see how we installed it with willow trellises.
It’s been a little while since I’ve shared anything relating to our back patio makeover. A few years ago, we removed our existing tiny patio and had a new, much larger concrete patio installed. When we did that, we expanded the patio to include the area of our garage.
I knew I didn’t want the entire porch to be concrete, and we had the perfect place against the garage wall to leave out a section and have a small flower bed. There were so many great options of what to plant in this area, but I kept coming back to the idea of having a wall of beautiful vines. I loved the thought of having dinner on the patio with a wall of beautiful, lush green foliage and the sweet smell of honeysuckle filling the air.
So that’s what we did.
We installed these expandable willow trellises along the wall. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but they also added much needed character to this long, empty wall on the back of our house.
We originally planted two honeysuckle plants and two clematis plants, evenly spaced along the wall in our planter. The clematis plants hated the amount of direct sun they received here and we replaced them this year with two more honeysuckle plants. They love this spot!
Installing Our Wall Of Honeysuckle
We spaced the four plants equally in our planting area…
Once the plants were in the ground, we started adding the trellises…
To install the trellis on the wall, we used these cup hooks…
We centered a trellis on each plant, then expanded them to the height we wanted, which ended up being just a few inches below our soffit…
We picked a few different locations to install the cup hooks, making sure the trellis was firmly in place. To add the cup hooks, we drilled into our siding…
Then, we screwed the cup hook into the siding…
We added about six cup hooks to each trellis, and the willow branches of the trellis fit tightly in each hook. We started adding wire and wrapping it around the hook and trellis, but after seeing how snug the trellis was without it, we decided to skip that step.
We followed the same steps, and installed the remaining three trellises on each plant…
I began weaving the vines up the trellis, we added irrigation for each plant, then a layer of bark… and here we are a year later!
Needless to say, the honeysuckle plants love this spot…
As the honeysuckle grows, I continue to weave it up the trellis, training it on how to grow. It’s so fun seeing how much it’s grown…
We love how much character the willow trellises have added to the house…
They make such a statement and they’re the perfect addition to this really long section of the house…
I can’t wait to see them all in bloom and filled out. How lovely that will be!
And just for fun, here’s what this section of the house looked like right before we had the new patio installed…
Progress just feels good, doesn’t it?
Patio Sources
Our house color is Useful Gray by Sherwin Williams in satin. The trim is Super White by Benjamin Moore in semi-gloss. Our gutters and soffit are black metal.
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I don’t know if you are aware that Honeysuckle is considered invasive now. Maybe there is some kind that I don’t know about that you have. They have a tendency to overtake and crowd out other native species of plants, so most areas in the country are trying to get people to stop planting honeysuckle. Also, be careful because most Honeysuckle attracts female mosquitoes to lay eggs and favors survival to adulthood. You could end up next year with a mess of mosquitos.
I lived in a house a few years ago in which Honeysuckle ivy had been planted by the previous owner. The Honeysuckle eventually grew really out of control. The mosquitos were everywhere to an abnormal point. We tried everything to get rid of the mosquitoes, and no matter how hard we tried to trim up the honeysuckle vines, it was just a mess. Eventually, we had to get help getting rid of the Honeysuckle. It smelled good, but I will never plant Honeysuckle. One last thing, Honeysuckle is extremely poisonous to animals including dogs. Be careful.
Thank you for sharing your feedback with Honeysuckle. It’s still readily available at all of our local nurseries and I even asked questions about it before buying it. Hopefully we don’t have a bunch of issues with it. Luckily, it’s in a confined area and it’s easy to trim back. I’ll keep an eye out for mosquitos.
Beautiful!
Thank you! It looks so pretty!
I did this exact thing with the willow trellis and honeysuckle on the side of my house! I am a year in and the honeysuckle has grown super big and heavy, so I’m hoping the trellis lasts a few more years.
Oh man! Fingers crossed! 🤞🏻 Ours has grown a ton in a year too, but the trellis still appears to be in good shape. Hopefully it will hold the weight!