When your garden is short on space, go up, up, up with climbers.

Growing a climber on a freestanding structure will create a great garden feature too.

Ladder
An old wobbly wooden ladder is just made for this project (pictured above). With a lick of paint (we used Wattyl Blue Fury), it can become a perfect home for a vine.

Pictured here is clematis, but you could try bleeding heart vine (Clerodendron thompsoniae), Chilean bellfower (Lapageria rosea), waxflower (Hoya carnosa) or purple apple berry (Billardiera longiflora).

Here, a swag was grown along marine quality rope loosely strung between rustic posts. The rose canes are grown up the post then wrapped around the rope. Swags can be any length you like and they can be set at any height (between waist and head height is usual).

Use swags to line paths, to encircle a garden or seating area or between the posts of a deck. As well as rope, you'll need poles (100mm diameter treated pine logs are ideal) and a spade drill bit larger than the diameter of the rope.

Drill the holes then set the poles at the desired spacing. When poles are firmly in place, thread rope through the holes, knotting each end.

As the canes grow, tie them loosely to the rope. For rope suppliers, look in the Yellow Pages under "Rope and Twine". You can expect to pay a minumum of $6 per metre.

A tepee of tools Now here's a great recycling idea - grab a few old tools, push the handle ends firmly into the ground like the legs of a tripod, and lash the tops with a few turns of fishing line or fine wire. Plant a climber in the middle and gently fix each twining stem to one of the legs.