It was piled by the curb, a 16-piece sectional steel trellis ready for bulk trash collection. I passed it by several times while walking through the neighborhood. I didn’t think I had room anywhere in my garden for a big trellis. The structure was heavy, too.

But the attraction outweighed all other considerations. After a day or two of consideration, I drove by and loaded it up, brought it home and piled it up under my deck, where it sat for many months as I waited for my garden to enlarge and resisted the urge to put it out on the curb in front of my own house.

Then the idea of using the pieces as separates came to mind, perhaps with a nudge from a memory of Christo’s and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park installation of thousands of gates draped with saffron-colored fabric.

There was plenty of room in the front and back yards to distribute individual trellis pieces. Each one now has a home, helping to elevate plants, providing sculptural interest and offering a privacy-screening feature in our narrow townhouse environment.

ELEVATORS: Trellis pieces give a small garden plot another dimension. All Photos Credit: John A. Bray

CLOUD LADDER: Single trellis pieces are secured with U-bolts fastened to railings or lengths of rebar hammered into the ground.

DECK DÉCOR: Clematis and mandevilla are among the plants set to climb on a newly installed deck jungle gym of trellis pieces.

COLOR GRID: Honeysuckle blooms are poised to pop open as the vine climbs.