I love wattle fencing and other twiggy structures. To prevent rotting of the uprights, I frequently use rebar for the posts and weave with long whips of whatever I have. Redbud makes good weavers. Redbud, cut to the ground, grows long whips, very quickly, in spring.

I've made little structures to show the dog where he isn't supposed to walk, using pieces of red cedar limb as uprights and any green branches I could find as weavers.

Three little uprights and a few horizontal pieces woven through will make a support for a floppy plant.

Willow is ideal, but if you haven't willow, improvise!

Nell

i just love these structures! I've been trying to create them for my garden for a couple of years -- just this year found a source for willows. thank you annie for posting this link. it's very inspirational :)

joyce

Yesterday, while we had a warm day, I built a make-shift wattle fence at the back of the north end of the new cottage garden using dead Corkscrew Willow branches and Crepe Myrtle limbs salvaged from last year's ice storm damage. I wove them into an existing stretch of field fence (I once used for beans, cucumbers and cantalopes) with upright sticks in between the metal posts. The sticks and branches conceal the wires very well. It makes a great backdrop now for the garden, instead of that old ugly wire fence. I truely love the look it gave the whole garden area - very Country Cottage-y.

The red-orange bread seed poppies and black and blue salvias will grow in front of this fence. It is going to look really great when they bloom together this spring. I keep looking out my kitchen window and admiring my new frence!

I planted the Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate (Polygonum orientale) seeds that Glenda sent me on the north side. The Magenta or Cerise pink flowers will look great hanging over the wattle fence, I hope. It could become a problem, but a set of clippers, the hoe and a sharp shovel are mighty tools in the hands of a gardener. :)

I plan to build some wattle towers for my Sweet Peas and set those off to the right side (east side) of the garden near the bearded irises and my beloved Fannick Phlox.

I am going to try my hand at constructing some wattle panels for the sides of the garden arbor I built last year. It definitely needs something, and that would pull it all together.

As soon as the weather warms up enough, I will sit out in the grass with a big pile of willow clippings around me and weave away!

~ Annie

I love wattle fencing! I have a woods to get all the materials I need, but I haven't made one yet. Just don't seem to have the time! BUt thanks for reminding me that I want to one day.

Annie, will you come build me one? (or two) :-)

Edna

I've been building trellis, fence and other structures from branches and trimmings for years, but use wire to hold them together; have never tried the wattle fencing or weaving. I really like that look. Can't wait to see everyone's creations.

I've used wire, too, to insure that what I weave stays put. If it is a temporary piece that isn't tight wattle, I wrap and tie twine over the joints after they are woven. I like the look of twine, but it isn't very permanent unless you use synthetic twine.

Nell

Up here, red osier and manitoba maple are very good options, if you can't find willow. Several years ago, a local college had a one-day course on building a bent willow chair. The instructor bought the willow in, and I still haven't found someone who will sell me more. I have made a chair out of cedar branches, which are a little more long lasting. I'm not sure I have enough patience for a wattle fence!!!

Nancy.

My new wattle fence is not professionally constructed. It is more higglety-pigglety. I used dried branches from my dead corkscrew willow that I'd saved to make something for the garden. I wove them in as best I could. And where they wouldn't bend enough to weave into the field fence, I just wired them to the fence using bailing wire for added strength and to pull them up closer & tighter. Their gnarly branches really added a lot to the overall look. The field fence hardly shows at all.

The wire fence is a strip about ten feet long at the north end of the garden - what is left of the old fence that used to go all the way around the garden. I shoved uprights into the ground in between the t-posts.

I save all the bailing wire from hay bales and use it all around the place. It comes in very handy. I also use bailing twine. I often find large bundles of it laying in the easement along the country roads. I wish it came in green or brown. That swimming pool blue is a bit too much in the garden. Oh well, it is free for the taking, so can't complain too much.

I don't care if my structures don't look manufactured and perfect. I think the home-made, higglety-pigglety look is better. Has more personality. In my simple country garden, that style looks best.

I use what I have, applying the "earth friendly" law of the three "R's"...and that's good enough for me. I'm a country girl! I ain't fancy.

~ Annie

sorry..in the first post, when I click on the link, all I'm seeing is a website that sells products, but I don't see where there's info on how to create your own fences or "hurdles"...? Thanks!