You know how you sometimes discover something in a corner of your garden?
Well, I discovered a rather tall mast the other day. I don’t know if it’s 30 or 50 feet high, nor do I know how on Earth I managed to overlook it for several months!
Okay, so I sort of do know… It’s by the East gable of the house where I don’t really go that often, and you can’t see it from the windows. Still, it’s A BLOODY TALL MAST! You would have thought I would have seen it.
The question now remains what to do with it. The best suggestion so far is to hoist the Jolly Roger at the top and create my own – very literal – pirate radio station where every other sentence is “Avast, me hearties”, “Hey-ho and a bottle of rum” or just plain “Arrrr”…
On a more realistic level I’ve been googling vigorous climbers… But what will grow tall enough? Hops normally only grow to 20 feet, and clematis montana to 30 feet. Both will probably leave me a bit short.
Pulling down the mast is just not within my capabilities, nor is getting somebody to do it within the budget, so I clearly have to keep it for now. The birch tree next to it should partly camouflage it, but it could be fun to make some sort of use of it. After all, how many gardens have a whopping tall mast in them? It HAS to be made into a feature, but it needs some sort of purpose.
(And it’s probably too weak to carry even a smallish windmill…)
A friend who grew up locally has told me that it was most likely used to mount a TV antenna to receive German terrestrial TV signals, which sounds likely. After all, I grew up in a country that had only one national TV station until 1988 so many people in the South and East of Denmark either watched German or Swedish television. Considering that I don’t own a telly set, though, this is not really useful for me.
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It still astounds me that for over 2½ months I didn’t notice this. I mean, it’s taller than the HOUSE!
It’s amazing what our brains can screen out! It must have been a bit of a shock when you finally noticed it. 😐 I like the idea of growing a vine or two on it. If the bottom is camouflaged, how many people will ever look up far enough to notice the top. If they do, you can claim to have the world’s tallest tuteur.
Well, it IS very slender and slight… But still… It’s a tall thing to miss!
I’ve always rather wanted a clematis montana, though, so I suspect this is the perfect excuse. It seems nearly impossible to find a climber that will grow taller than that, and I HAVE seen them grow well beyond what is considered normal (There’s one in Northern Copenhagen that reaches the gutters of an older 5-floor building, so that has to be 45 feet at the very least…)
And in a few years when the clematis grows a bit leggy I can sow sweet peas around the base.
the montana tower! did you view the house when the tree in front of it was in leaf as I imagine that would make it a lot less obvious, it definitely beats weeding a border only to stand up and see you have missed the tallest weed in the middle of the border, Frances
I first saw the house in October when there still was leaves on the birch tree, but I took possession of the house on December 1st, so for 2½ months I’ve overlooked that mast… It makes me wonder what else I’ve overlooked in the garden!
what if you added colored flags or banners? At least you’d get to know about the wind in your area and have something, dare I say, artistic to look at.
The birch trees normally tell me quite clearly about the wind, so I don’t really need flags or banners to do that. Also, I might be a bit of a boring, Scandinavian puritan, but I think I would get tired of watching coloured things in the garden that aren’t plants if it was a permanent feature.
(I’m having a big summer party this year, though, and that will definitely feature bunting, coloured lanterns and all the trappings. And a bonfire in the evening. And lots and lots of friends, family and neighbours. So far I’ve invited just over 70 people, so we’ll see how many end up attending…)
As Jean says, It’s amazing what our brains can screen out. No doubt you did not want to see it. I have seen a similar a tower covered by the chocolate vine (Akebia quinata). The problem with this vine is that it is not content to go up. It also spreads out.
I don’t really mind it, actually, and I had been planning on getting a clematis montana anyway, so it all fits together. I can work with this. 🙂
In fact, the more I think about it with a flowering climber on it, the happier I am to have it in my garden. That’s another way our brains can be amazing; things can go from being a challenge to a god-sent!
Your idea of Clematis is what was my first thought too. Montana would be great. I have Sweet autumn clematis vine on the garage and it makes a big statement when in bloom in the fall landscape. It is a light plant that should do fine on the flimsy structure. It really likes going up too.
I want other clematis as well, but montana is just special because it can grow so tall… I had originally planned on getting one to plant up one of the more boring trees in the garden, but this mast is obviously perfect for a vigorous, upright climber! I just need to get one of the “wilder” varieties that won’t mind growing to the very top of the mast… None of those puny 6-9ft clematis for me! (Well, not for that position, anyway.)