Trellis

Discussion

Trellis is a term used to describe a network of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal posts and rails designed to support vegetation. The term “treillage” was also used to refer to trellis work, especially in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century treatises; in the early nineteenth century the term “treliage” was noted on Charles Varlé’s plan of Bath (Berkeley Springs), Va. (later W.Va.). Trellis was also closely associated with espalier,especially by the mid-nineteenth century when the latter term referred to the support material (including trellis or lattice work) upon which fruit trees and ornamental trees were trained (see Espalier). Trellises also fulfilled a decorative function in the garden. In Batty Langley’s New Principles of Gardening (1728), the trellis was recommended as a framing device to direct a view to a distant focal point [Fig. 1]. Trellises could take on elaborate forms and were used for garden structures such as arbors and summerhouses (see Arbor and Summerhouse). A.-J. Dézallier d’Argenville’s The Theory and Practice of Gardening (1712) indicates that such structures decreased in popularity in the early eighteenth century because they were relatively expensive for impermanent wooden structures. While Dézallier d’Argenville recommended treillage for decorative structures found in the pleasure ground, Thomas Jefferson (1804) insisted that “treillages” belonged in the kitchen garden, which suggests that he used them primarily for training fruit trees.

Seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and early nineteenth-century gardening treatises all generally describe the feature as supports for fruits trained against walls; therefore, trellises were located frequently in the walled kitchen garden. Placing fruit trees or fruit-bearing vegetation on trellises attached to walls was beneficial; the wall sheltered the fruit and radiated warmth that hastened its ripening. Moreover, affixing and spreading a tree or vine against a trellis often stimulated fruit production. For similar reasons, the trellis was used in hothouses and greenhouses, especially in the nineteenth century when specialized forcing houses became increasingly popular. In 1826, J.C. Loudon set forth seven types of trellises for hothouses and greenhouses, each differentiated by its location within these structures.

By the mid-nineteenth century, treatise writers such as A.J. Downing (1851) promoted the trellis for both cultivation of plant material and use as an ornamental feature. Trellises supporting decorative and sweet-smelling plant material, such as roses and honeysuckles, could be attached to the structure of the summerhouse, arbor, seat, outbuildings, and the house itself, often along the veranda [Fig. 2]. Trellises not only embellished the structure, but also, as Downing noted, offered “an air of rural refinement and poetry.” When used as freestanding elements in landscape designs, trellises functioned as semi-transparent walls. Like those at the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House in Cambridge, Mass. [Fig. 3], they were placed along borders and walkways and positioned to mask unsightly structures or elements, as Edward Sayers recommended in his 1838 treatise.

Trellis construction varied widely from simple post-and-rail grid patterns to intricate systems composed of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal elements of different lengths and widths. Many treatises contain detailed instructions for the construction of trellises, whose requirements depended upon the type of vegetation to be supported. George William Johnson’s Dictionary of Modern Gardening (1847), for example, explains different trellises according to the type of plant, vine, or tree to be supported, as well as describing their placement in greenhouses, hothouses, or along walks.

Until the nineteenth century, wood was commonly used for the feature, although in 1789 Thomas Sheridan also mentioned the use of iron. Some treatise writers recommended specific wood types. Philip Miller (1754), for example, reported that fir was commonly used, Bernard M’Mahon (1806) mentioned pine, and Downing (1851) suggested cedar. Treatise authors also debated whether wood trellises should be painted. By mid-century, the availability of relatively inexpensive metalwork (which could be worked into a variety of forms), allowed wider use of materials such as cast iron and wire.

-- Anne L. Helmreich