Talkback: Plant supports - upping the stakes

I have recently had a pergola built on a patio with squares of soil left for planting. My climbers are already planted & some came with small supports but have you any ideas on how I can support the plants as they grow apart from nailing green garden twine round the wooden posts which would look very obvious as the wood is oak & at the moment is pale yellow in colour. I have seen pvc coated mesh which you can cut to size - do you think this would do the trick?

Galvanised wire nailed to the posts would be much less obtrusive - especially as the oak ages and turns silvery. If you have two wires running parallel on each side of the post (top to bottom) then that not only looks smart but is very effective. The climbers can then be tied into the wires with string.

We built a pergola over our pond last year and to grow clematis and passion flowers up the wooden posts we screwed some small pretty angle brackets with sun catcher in them at the top then ran green garden wire from the metapost at ground level up to the bracket and back down already we have a clematis which as made it to the top with no help from us this year the wire is not noticable at all.

I use upturned, empty hanging baskets to provide super support for sedums and peonies. They are soon covered by foliage!

Be careful using metal wire with oak. Unless you use stainless steel there's a tendency for the metal to react with the oak leaving black stains on the wood.