How to Make a Modern Plant Trellis for Climbing Flowers

Give your climbing plants the support they need with this easy DIY plant trellis!

I love to wander around my garden and enjoy the variety of flowers and plants in my yard.

In fact, one of my favorite spots is the east side of my house. Early in June the clematis and poppies start to bloom and I think the color combination is absolutely gorgeous.

For years, I’ve had a metal plant trellis from the home improvement store, but it has struggled to stay upright with the weight of my clematis.

So, that brain of mine started turning and I thought it would be fun to make my own plant trellis with the leftover galvanized hog panel we used on our deer fence.

I hate to see anything it go to waste.

As it happens, we had just enough of the galvanized hog panel to make two trellises.

I love the way the plant trellises compliment my deer fence.

Scroll on down and see how I built these trellises for my garden plants.

Table of Contents

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Plant Trellis Supplies

Lumber and hog wire to build a plant trellis for the garden. — Supplies for creating a plant trellis for climbing flowers.

For each plant trellis you will need:

Tools we used:

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Cut Hog Panel to Size

Hog wire marked for cuts. — Mark galvanized hog panel for cuts.

First mark the hog wire panel to the desired dimensions for your plant trellis.

I made two plant trellis with hog panel leftover from our deer fence. The finished dimensions of my trellises are as follows:

61 1/2″ x 27″

61 1/2″ x 18″

The galvanized hog panel for each trellis are cut as follows:

59 1/2″ x 25″

59 1/2″ x 17″

hog wire is cut with a grinder for the trellis. — Cut galvanized hog wire with a cutting wheel.

Once we determined the size for our galvanized hog panels we used the cutting blade on our grinder. For this part of the project I enlisted the help of my hubby. He had on a long sleeve shirt and the sparks from the cutting wheel are hot.

Be sure to use safety goggles for any cutting project. Always be safe!

Another option would be to cut it with a hacksaw.

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Prepare Wood for Plant Trellis

Now it’s time to cut the lumber as follows:

2 61 1/2″ 2×2
2 24″ 2×2

2 61 1/2″ 2×2
2 16″ 2×2

Woman's hand at the miter saw cutting the lumber for the plant trellis. — Cut the side and cross bar pieces to length.

Cut one side piece and one crossbar from each 2×2 pressured lumber.

A router, mounted to a router table cuts a groove in the board for the plant trellis. — Cut a 1/4″ wide groove, 1/2″ deep in the 2 side pieces and the 2 side cross bar pieces.

Now we need to cut a groove in the center of the each 2×2 board leaving 1 1/2″ at each end without a groove.

I feel that a router is the easiest way to create a groove. But if you don’t have a router you could use a table saw and run it through a couple of times to get the 1/4″ wide groove that you will need.

At this time, we inserted a 1/4″ straight bit into the router and set it to a depth of 1/2″.

Then we mounted the router to the router table and set the fence to cut directly in the center of the 2×2 board, starting and stopping 1 1/2″ from each end of the board.

Pilot holes drilled into the lumber before assembly of the plant trellis. — Drill pilot holes in each of the side pieces at the top and bottom.

Because we don’t want the wood to split we drilled pilot holes at the top and bottom of each side piece, centering the hole.

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Assembling the Plant Trellis

Lumber is placed over the hog wire when assembling the trellis. — Place the galvanized hog panel in the routed groove.

At this time, we are ready to assemble the plant trellis. Place the galvanized hog panel in the grooves on each side pieces.

Wood glue is applied to the lumber when assembling the plant trellis. — Drill pilot holes in the side pieces and place wood glue on crossbar ends.

Then place wood glue on each end of the cross bar piece.

Secure crossbar to side pieces of lumber with exterior wood screws. — Secure sides to crossbar with wood screws.

Finally place a screw through the pilot hole into the crossbar piece. And repeat for the other cross bar piece.

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Decorative Header

For the decorative header we cut a piece of 6″ cedar fence slat to 38 1/2″ for the larger trellis and 31″ for the smaller plant trellis.

Arc is traced onto the lumber. — Mark an ark on the piece for the decorate top.

To create the decorative arc on the side of the cedar slat we created a template using a plate. This is the same way we created the arc on the deer fence trellis as well.

woman with a jig saw cuts an arc in the lumber for the plant trellis. — Cut out the arc with a scroll saw.

Then cut out the arc with a jigsaw.

Finally to attach the decorative header, run a bead of wood glue along the top crossbar.

Header of the plant trellis is secured with a brad nailer. — Secure decorative edge with brads

Then nail on the cedar slat. I used the pneumatic brad nailer for this. But an old fashioned hammer and nails will work as well.

Attach Stakes

Metal posts are secured to the back of the trellis to stabilize the trellis in the ground. — Attach metal posts to trellis with screws.

Last but not least attach the steel fence U post with screws to the back side of the trellis. Allow for the post to extend about 12″ past the bottom of the trellis.