I love fine gardening (and its sister publication Threads magazine). Thanks for the links.
I use bulky white acrylic yarn tied in a figure 8 on my white trellis. I use neutral beige cotton/acrylic elsewhere. The yarn seem less likely to abrade the canes in my limited experience. It is much softer and smoother than regular twine. It also has some stretch/resilience, which may help, I am not sure. I have been knitting/sewing/designing much longer than I have been gardening, so I have lots of yarn scraps in my assorted scrap baskets.
I am trying something new (to me). I am growing some Austin roses on a trellis against a wall. Due to lack of garden space and inability to turn down roses from a friend, I am training each in a v shape, but overlapping them as necessary. (I am not overlapping canes from the same rose with itself, but the edges of the v's overlap...like w.) The goal is a wall of pastel - peach, yellow, warm pink- roses combined with clematis. The current effect is....crowded....and Golden Celebration has terrible blackspot (although it gets the most ventilation). I think with continued training and fungicide application it may work out. (At least until I can move myself into somewhere with more gardening space). One of the roses reached beyond the top of the trellis already this year. The trellis is 8' but the wall is much taller. This is the roses first full year in my garden, so they haven't "taken off" yet. I am delaying judgment until next spring.
I have morning glories against the other wall on trellis. I love the look in the summertime. I can't plant roses there because of run off from the roof. In the winter/early spring the freezing/thawing against the morning glory wall kills roses and perennial vines. Of course, the morning glory seeds wash in the garden over the fall/winter and pop up everywhere. But it is worth the bother because they are so beautiful and the hummingbirds like them. (If you want 'Star of Yelta' purple morning glory seeds that reseed and return in zone 5/6, let me know.) I must take pictures today when I get out in the garden. I'll try to get some of my trellis in progress project.
