Tantalizing structures and flowering

by Nina A. Koziol

There’s often a dilemma facing designers and contractors when working in tight spaces. How can you make your design stand out when a backyard is 25 feet by 40 feet at most? Structure! Trellises, arbors, pergolas, tuteurs or obelisks — all function to add height. The icing on the cake — a flowering vine.

Leo Kelly, president of Kellygreen Design, Inc. in Palatine, has created custom structures for more than 40 years. “Everything we do is to fulfill someone’s dream. The best structures are those that take cues off the residence whether it’s a Victorian home, a ranch house or something new and sprawling.” His firm has created everything from trellises, obelisks, arbors, furniture and decks to custom fences and planters, driveway gates, and high-end pergolas covering outdoor kitchens, patios and pool decks.

“There are so many opportunities out there,” Kelly said. “You’re often limited by narrow planting beds between a house or garage and a sidewalk. That’s where a trellis makes sense.” When you can’t plant a shrub in a three-foot-wide border, a flowering vine on a trellis brings color up near eye level. An obelisk placed in a narrow border creates a focal point and an interesting support for smaller annual vines like cypress vine with its tubular red, pink or white flowers.

When it comes to annual vines, horticulturist Greg Stack of Ted’s Greenhouse in Tinley Park has his favorites. “I like Mina lobata, cardinal climber, moon flower, Thunbergia (black-eyed Susan vine), the ever popular morning glory, scarlet runner bean, hyacinth bean, gourds of all kinds, and butterfly pea.”

For clients who want something more permanent, there are plenty of perennial vines. “There’s clematis, climbing hydrangea, hardy kiwi, Japanese honeysuckle, Autumn Revolution bittersweet (Celastrus scandens ‘Bailumn’) because it is self fruitful, as well as hops, and climbing roses.”

For Matt Dingledein, outside sales manager for Midwest