Hi All~
I found a plan to build a Sweetpea Wigwam and it calls for Willow Rods and a bundle of Willow. Is there a place you can buy these items? I wouldn't even know where to look actually..
I know there is a big Willow tree in our city park but I wouldn't feel right cutting it all, maybe taking what has fallen on the ground but not to cut it.
Did anyone else ever build one of these? Any pictures?
This will be my first time trying to make something like this...I hope it works~
Aggie
Sweetpea Wigwams
I havenever made one, but you could probably use length of bamboo like Lowes sells. I may try this in a year or so for my daughter.
Last year our garden center sold willow stakes. Quite pricey, though.
I see people collecting twigs and willow cuttings after the tree trimmers have trimmed along the highway. I think there are substitute plant materials for the willows if they aren't available, too.
I'm just going to use the sticks and twigs that fell from our trees or from our bush trimmings. In any case we will want to see pictures when you're finished!
More willow projects for energetic cottage gardeners: http://www.thewillowfarm.com/willow_fence_living.htm#
Ask your city guys when they're going to trim any willows, and grab cuttings from them. I take it you're planting a LIVING willow structure? If so, you'll want cuttings rather than leavings, if you know what I mean. Good luck, and post pictures!!!
We can buy willow stakes quite cheap here...................... but the best thing to use to make a wigwam is bamboo! Just get some 10 or 12 foot lengths of bamboo.
I also used to use the wigwam for growing runner beans too...........
Mark
Hey, Mark! How's the Lord of Crocosmia?
Hey Ann
Long time no speak.................... how the heck are you these days??????????
Your rose bush is still here and i must say it is growing rather well........... LOL
Do you want it yet........???????????
Lord of crocosmia............. love it!!!!!!!!
Mark
We can't get 10 or 12 foot bamboo here, Mark. 6 feet is as tall as I've seen locally. Anybody else able to find bamboo that long? Where?
Suzy
Suzy
Wow, really?????????????? want me to send you some??????????????? LOL
I think 12 feet is the max that we can get here, but it is prefect for growing sweet pea.
The willow sticks are only available up to 8 feet long i think...........
Mark
Yeah, well I already told you about our weather....no Sweet Peas, either. Mabe that's why we don't have any long stakes. I asked the garden center to order in some for me, but they couldn't find them to order. I was thinking a rug place might have them....they used to roll rugs around some sort of dowel, but I supposed it's been supplanted by a cardboard tube these days.
I had literally never *seen* annual Sweet Peas until I tried to grow them last year....poor performance doesn't even come close to describing how ugly they were. Any Englishman would have shuddered at the sight.Am trying again this year, of course, because the scent was delicious. I planted 10x more seeds to the same size pot, so we'll see if volume compensates for poor performance. LOL!
I also have a kind I bought for containers -- a little dwarf. (seed)
Suzy
Suzy
Do you have a Home depot or something near you??????? If you asked for a length of 1/2" dowling you may find its long enough........ My dad is a builder and he got some for me once. I think that came in 4 metre lengths.
Have you tried the everlasting sweet peas????? they are kinda pretty........... and they are perennial, and quite hardy!!!
I am not a sweet pea fan actually, so i wouldn't have shuddered......LOL
Of course you could always move to England!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark
Move to England??? ......but then I couldn't grow my beloved marigolds! ROTFL!!! (For those of your reading, Mark has a peculiar aversion to Marigolds LOL)Yes, we can get dowels that long for sure...or use #1 rebar which is 1/8" in diamter with grooves all along it....easier to get the twine to stay. Or use that farm fencing with the 14 guage wire in 4" square openings. We have a lot of options, but nothing is as pretty as willow stakes! :((
Suzy
LOL................... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooooooooooooooooooo not Marigolds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Some people in England must grow them, they are always on sale in the garden centres......
Yep i must admit, willow stakes look soooooooooo good in the garden. I use lots of them for staking plants!!
Mark
Wait a minute! Illoquin, do you want 12 foot bamboo for your sweet peas?? Are they on steroids? I think the weather here in the Midwest is 'sweet pea adverse' and the heat and humidity make growing a good stand of them an insurmountable challenge ( at least for me). But good luck on your 'sweet pea challenge'!
And I'm thinking the sweetpea wigwam is not a living willow wigwam, just a construction from twigs and sticks. Right? Very picturesque though!
There is an interesting thread on GW about a gardener who created a wonderful living fence around her cottage garden. She made it sound easy but I'm sure it's not. There is a great living fence of pleached apple trees in one of the horticultural gardens here.
Mark, I'm not a fan of Marigolds either, but just this week we watched a Netflix movie "Monsoon Wedding" where Marigolds played a major part in the movie set and decore and it made me a believer in them. (Well, in the right circumstances and setting, that is.) The fellow who helps me in the garden won't plant them. He hates them and call them 'the Flower of Death'. I think in Latin countries they are used at funerals a lot. He gets rather emotional about them.
And Mark, have you noticed how Crocosmias are becoming more and more popular these days? I see pictures and articles about them in all the garden press these days. A very interesting flower for the hummingbird garden too, I think.
Hi Tabasco
Yes i agree, Marigolds have their place.............. normally in a compost bin or planted around proper plants so that the slugs get them before proper plants. LOL
I hope that crocosmias are becoming more and more popular over there...... I keep pushing them and writing to magazines about them. Trying to convince americans that they aren't all like those nasty orange ones that grow like weeds........
Plus, as you say, hummingbirds LOVE them.
LOL but I like the orange ones too. They go with the marigolds!
Your letter writing must be paying off!
Are these crocosmias? (-:
Looks like Crocosmia Lucifer mixed in with Rudbeckia................ similar to what i have here... i will find the pic!!!!
That picture just needs some big fluffy Yellow Marigolds - the Jumbo ones, to make it complete, Mark!
Tab, I am ashamed that I wanted the 12 footers for other vines -- the Mina lobata gets that tall, and so did my Thunbergia last year. (only ashamed because it is off topic on the thread) This year I sowed some purple Moonvine and hope to have more Mina, though I have to admit I forgot all about it in the seed sowing frenzy I had last week. I have the seed in my hand, though, so I can get to it soon. On my pot of Royal Red Sweet Peas...It was a 12" pot, and I put a circle (an upright cylinder) of lightweight fencing on top, then I secured it down with a combination of green plant stakes (running in and out of the fencing) and those u-shaped stakes you get with the Eon plant markers. The lightweight fencing has a name, and for the life of me I cannot remember it. It has sort of hexagonal openings and as soon as you cut it to size, there are wires that come out and scratch you. They use it a lot on farms.
I am hoping the vines cover it tuit suite because it is a homely contraption!
Suzy
LOL Well, the marigolds would go well with the picture, love 'em or hate 'em, wouldn't they?
Yes, I guess we are off topic, I regret.
I am going out today to collect long branches and twigs for my vine trellis collection (I am sowing seeds for various until now unfamiliar to me). Willows are not so available but I have a few trees staked out in the park forest--I just have to wait until the Rangers take their coffee breaks! Just kidding. We'll see how it goes.
Sometimes homely contraptions are the quaintest and best, aren't they?
Ah, no, I must have given you the wrong impression: this isn't quaint in the least -- think of something out by the pig stye. :(( LOL!
It probably needs some thing on the inside because it's just a 8" diameter hollow cylinder...could probably use some netting or cross pieces or something.
Suzy
Suzy, I think the fencing you're talking about is chicken wire. That's what I enclose my veggie garden with.
I think that photo has Crocosmia and Helenium rather than Rudbeckia.
Just my $.02!
Maggie
Yeah, I bet he meant Helenium, didn't you Mark? You need to save some seeds of that Red Helenium for me next summer -- it's gorgeous!
Sue, Yes! Chicken Wire! LOL! I couldn't think of the name of it. The Sweet Peas have germinated, but I am having trouble fashioning a light set up for them....the chicken wire cylinder keeps the light fixture well away from the baby seedlings. :)) Of course, I was expecing SUN and WARMER temps outside when I sowed the seed 10 days ago!
Suzy
Yep, its Helenium............................ my mistake............................
I can save you some seeds if you want me to Suzy.......
smooch smooch! I would love the seed from that exact plant! LOVE IT!
Why don't you join the Cottage Garden swap in November and I'll make it worth your while, baby! ;)
Suzy
Suzy, sounds like an offer he can't refuse! LOL!
I'd love some Helenium seed too if available.
I tried to order plants from Great Britain where they have a nursery designated as a kind of national Helenium centre or refuge- but they don't ship to US. They Fall Piggy Swap would be good.
Maggie (oink)
We have 2 globe willow trees and they constantly drop branches. Some are 3-4 feet long. I actually get tired of having to pick up the branches out of the yard. Maybe you can find someone in your neighborhood who has one. Believe me I would love it if someone drove up and asked for branches so I didn't have to go gather them every weekend! That is the only thing I don't like about the trees.
Suzy.............................. LOL.................. Oh really????????????????? hahahaha
Didn't know there was a cottage garden swap in November............ i will have to have a look!!