An infinity hoop or circle trellis is an elegant solution to attractively display your indoor climbing or vining potted houseplants and tame those long, trailing vines into a manageable shape.
Benefits Of A Circle Trellis
Because the vines continually loop back to the soil, additional rooting points can be established, resulting in a healthier plant. This will also make it easier to propagate plants from cuttings in the future, because there will be multiple rooted segments.
Additional benefits to training your potted plant’s vine around a circle trellis is that all lengths of the plant will receive equal levels of sunlight, and plants (especially those with smaller foliage or leggier vines) will have a fuller appearance.
Here is a partial list of plants that would do well on an infinity trellis:
Pathos
Hoya
Philodendron
Vanilla Planifolia Orchid
String of Hearts
Creeping Jenny
and other vining or climbing plants
What Size Infinity Trellis Do You Need?
To determine what size of a circle you need for your infinity trellis, you would normally double the diameter of the planter or pot you are using. For example, if your pot is 4 inches in diameter you would select an 8 inch infinity trellis.
You should also consider the growth and vining habit of your plant when selecting trellis size. If you have a slow growing plant or one with small or sparse foliage, the standard trellis size calculation should be fine. However, if your plant is a rigorous grower or produces larger-sized leaves you would want to increase the diameter of the infinity trellis by 2 inches. A Monstera Adansonii in a 6 inch pot would need an infinity trellis roughly 14 inches in diameter (12 inches for the normal calculation plus 2 extra inches to accommodate the larger foliage).
Supplies You Will Need
If you are just making a wire trellis, a section of wire, needle nose pliers, and a shape to form the wire around is all you need. The only other items you might need are those you would use if you will be decorating or coating the wire, such as jute twine, yard or ribbon (see end of page for ideas).
You can use a wire coat hanger or any other strand of wire that is 12 gauge or 10 gauge thickness (a coat or clothes hanger is typically made from 11.5 to 12 gauge wire). Here’s a link if you need to pick up wire online at Amazon.
For your form, select an object with a slightly smaller diameter as the trellis you will be making. If you are not a perfectionist, you can shape the wire by hand. Otherwise, a few items that might make a good form:
- Small saucepans
- Quart-sized paint cans
- Ceramic bowls
- Round lamp base
- Flower pots
- Embroidery hoop
The length of wire you will need is dependent on the circumference of the circle trellis plus the length of the support stakes. Below are some common measurement conversions, but you can also use this calculator to get the circumference. These measurements do not include the length needed for the support stakes (see next paragraph).
- For a 3 inch pot: 6 inch diameter circle equals ~19 inch circumference
- For a 4 inch pot: 8 inch diameter circle equals ~25 inch circumference
- For a 5 inch pot: 10 inch diameter circle equals ~31 inch circumference
- For a 6 inch pot: 12 inch diameter circle equals ~38 inch circumference
You will also want to add the length of both the support stakes to your circumference. This should be equal to the depth of your pot. If your pot is 4 inches deep, you would add 8 inches (4 inches for each support stake). So for a 6 inch diameter trellis inserted into a pot that is 4 inches deep you would combine the 19 inch circumference for the circle trellis with 8 inches for the support stakes, for a total of 27 inches of wire.
For a 10 inch infinity trellis with 4 inch support stakes you would need 39 inches of wire.
Adding Finishing Touches To Your Infinity Trellis
Adding Jute Twine To Your Trellis
To add twine to your infinity trellis, you will need some tacky glue, jute twine, and craft clips or clothespins. You can pick up the craft clips and twine at your local dollar store. Any tacky glue should work, but Aleene’s is definitely the best. You can pick some up at most any craft store or online at Amazon (link).
Adding the twine is pretty straightforward. Work in 3 to 4 inch sections at a time. Apply a small bead of tacky glue to the wire, then tightly wrap the twine onto the glued wire. Add a craft clip as you complete each section to prevent all your hard work from unraveling before it has time to dry.