Alan Titchmarsh just revealed one of his favourite trellis colours, and it’s one that I’ve always overlooked – until now.
On last week’s episode of Gardening With Alan Titchmarsh, the gardener, author and broadcaster transformed a dull corner of the garden into a beautiful retreat. The star? The freshly stained sage green trellis against the brick wall. I’m all for a beautiful garden trellis idea, but I wasn’t expecting green paint to make such an impact.
Here’s why Alan loves sage green on a trellis – and the exact shade of sage green he went for.
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Alan set about screening a sheltered corner of his garden from the view of an overlooking new build in the recent YouTube episode of Gardening With Alan Titchmarsh, and he used one of the most popular garden screening ideas to do it: a trellis.
‘The obvious way of screening this building that overlooks us is with trellis,’ he said in the video. ‘What it will also give me is the opportunity to plant climbers up there so it won’t just be a latticework of timber – it’ll be foliage and flowers, and it’ll sort of embrace this corner, giving it a big hug.’
It’s the colour that Alan stains the trellis that impressed me the most. The starring shade was Protek Wood Stain and Protect in Pale Sage, which you can order from Amazon, and it looked beautiful against the brick wall behind it.
‘I’ve chosen a colour here called Pale Sage, which I think is wonderfully complementary to old brickwork like this, and also to plants,’ Alan said.
‘Any colour will look good on Pale Sage, a sort of soft green like this. If you get a rather lurid green, then it sort of governs the things you can climb up it – but something like Pale Sage will cope with any kind of flower colour on it.’
Plus, if you’re growing a deciduous climber along your trellis and it becomes bare in the winter, sage green keeps that touch of greenery in your garden all year round.
‘In winter, of course, unless your climber’s evergreen, all you’re going to see is trellis – so it’s got to have something which is pleasant to look at with no flower and no leaf on it at all,’ Alan explained.
‘Protek Wood Stain and Protect in ‘Pale Sage’ works perfectly against the red brick wall and neutral planting,’ says Becky Rackstraw, director at Protek Products. ‘As echoed by Alan, to get the best results, you’ll need to choose a high-quality exterior woodcare product and give the trellis a few thorough coats so that it is well covered and protected for years to come.
‘It’s important to carefully consider the selected colour as part of the overall garden scheme, so that it looks really good over the winter period when the planting dies down and the structure is revealed to enhance and lift the garden as a colourful feature.’
RHS award-winning garden designer Zoe Claymore agrees that sage green is a brilliant choice for a trellis.
‘Green is a great natural foil to put plants against,’ she says. ‘Stain, though, don’t paint it, for better longevity and lower maintenance.
‘I’m also bored of the off black/grey we see a lot – it’s too harsh and grey-based, which is the last thing I want to look at when there is already too much concrete and grey around us.’
The sage green really does make Alan’s hydrangea (pictured above) pop, and when the star jasmine flowers emerge, they’ll complement the backdrop beautifully. You can order a star jasmine plant from Gardening Express.
Alan used a lattice trellis like this Forest Garden Rosemore Lattice, which you can buy at Robert Dyas.
‘You get what you pay for,’ he said. ‘Go for something sturdy – it’ll last longer than cheaper stuff.’
Get the look
Robert Dyas
Forest Garden Rosemore Lattice
A 180m x 180m lattice trellis panel, similar to the one Alan used.
Protek
Protek Wood Stain and Protect 2.5l – Pale Sage
2.5 litres of the stain Alan used to paint his trellis.
Ronseal
Ronseal Garden Paint Sapling Green 750ml
Ronseal’s Sapling Green is a similar colour, but it’s a paint, rather than a stain.
Would you consider a sage green trellis?
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