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Easy DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches

I’m excited to share this fun project with you today – Easy DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches. I love using natural elements like stones, logs, driftwood and branches as decor in my gardens. I’m lucky enough to have a hubby who is handy and likes to tinker around with these items and make cool things for my gardens.

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Several years ago, he made a chair out of branches from a maple tree we had to cut down. I wasn’t thinking about starting a gardening website back then, so we do not have pictures of the process.

Chair made from maple branches in a flower garden.

It’s super cute, right. Unfortunately, it only lasted a few seasons. However, making me another branch chair is on his Honey Do List.

DIY Maple Twig Chair with Basket of Petunias

In the home we live in now, we have several big old maple and ash trees that are always dropping limbs and branches, so we have a ready supply for projects and bonfires. This is the pile of wood he started with. Please pay no mind to all the weeds and junk, it’s all contained in a neglected, unseen part of the yard.

DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches

I asked hubs if he could make me some type of rustic ladder trellis to lean against the fence for vines to grow on. He said easy and got to work. First we decided how tall we wanted the ladder, and he pulled out two longer branches and cut them to around 6 1/2 feet. Next, he cut the rungs, or the cross pieces. Simply decide the width you want your ladder and go from there.

DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches

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Once he had all the pieces cut, he went about putting the ladder together. To secure everything in place, he used his trusty Bostitch Brad Nailer.  Using a brad nailer made this project super easy, but if you don’t have one, you can use zip ties  wrapped around the branches in a figure 8 fashion to hold the rungs in place. To cover the zip ties, wrap over the zip ties with jute cord to hide them.

I loved the first one so much, that he ended up building another branch ladder.

DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches


The finished product turned out so cute and was super easy to build. I love them – they are perfectly imperfect!

DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches

As a reminder of this project, here’s a Pin you can pin to one of your
DIY or gardening boards on Pinterest. Thanks for pinning!

How to Make a Garden Trellis Using Tree Branches 

The taller tree branch ladder has silver lace vine growing on it.

DIY Garden Trellis Using Branches with Silver Lace Vine

Here’s the other branch ladder used as part of a little vignette in the shade. It has a Cathedral Bells vine growing on it, which will probably never flower because I have it in too much shade.

Easy DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches

I later moved the shorter tree branch ladder and now have a clematis vine growing on it. It looks so sweet.

Image of a Tree branch ladder with clematis vine.

And, a closeup. The brad nails really don’t even show.

Image of a tree branch ladder with clematis vine

After seeing our ladders made from tree branches, our neighbor put together her own creation for vining plants like peas, cucumbers, etc to grow up. If you look closely you can see that she simply used garden twist ties to hold hers together.  I think it’s super cute and just another example of DIY projects you can do with tree branches.

Image of a Garden Trellis made from tree branches

I hope you enjoyed our Easy DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches project. Thanks a bunch for stopping by Gingham Gardens.  Are you going to add this to your project list? It really is a very easy and fairly quick garden decor project that adds tons of character to your garden.

Since we have so many tree branches, limbs and sticks to work with, we’ve also made some other fun and projects: Festive DIY Projects Using Tree Branches and Logs and DIY Christmas Crafts Using Twigs.

Oh, and do we ever have lots of tree stumps in our yard. Find out what to do with old tree stumps in this post.

If you like whimsical garden decor, be sure to check out: Upcycled Vintage Garden DecorGarden Decor (Lots of Creative Ideas for Your Garden) is a fun post too. Oh, and I think you’ll love – Garden Vignettes Using Flea Market Finds.

Please do me a huge favor and share this project on Pinterest. There are “pins” made just for this purpose at the bottom of the post. Thank you for sharing!

Now is the very best time to plan out your gardens, so be sure to check out the post DIY Garden Journal. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post.

Happy gardening,
Joanna

Follow Gingham Gardens on Pinterest for lots of great gardening ideas and tons of gardener’s eye candy.

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Pins to share:

Image of a Garden Trellis with text overlay - How to Make a Garden Trellis out of Tree Branches

 

Image of a Tree Branch Ladder with Text Overlay - Easy DIY Garden Decor Using Tree Branches

57 Comments

  1. Hi, I just love your ideas, all of them! I’m just exploring the idea of making miniature ladders/ benches, pathways, etc to use in something that is similar to a fairy garden, but without the fairies. We had a tree fall during a storm so now I have a huge stump & want to use it to make a miniature village. But the cost of buying all of the miniature items is really climbing so I thot maybe I’d try my hand at making some of it myself. Anyway, just wondering if you have gotten into the fairy garden craze & done anything miniature using sticks/stones etc? You’re so very creative so I can imagine what you are capable of doing. If not, do you know of anyone else who is doing their own creations using things supplied by mother nature who may have a website? Again, your creations are amazing! Thank you for sharing them with us!

      1. Hi Joanna! I was so happy to see your reply & when I went to your friend’s website, I got pretty excited. I love that they suggested to, “think like a fairy”. Well, I’m 66 yrs old & I’m getting a bit giddy about all of this. lol. It just may be true that we revert back to being like children in our golden years. lol. I’m hoping it will at least rejuvenate my creative side! I’m going to get my grandchildren in on this project as well because I think they’ll have some great ideas to offer. Thank you so much for the connection to your friend’s site & for your reply! God bless!
        Linda

  2. Hi Joanna I love the tree branch ladder, it has character. Love home made things. We have lots of trees and limbs onur property. Must get busy next spring and make a chair and ladder maybe a trellis. I will make them out of cedar as it last longer. It is messy/gummy to work with but not bad if one wears gloves or lets it dry before working with it. Thanks for sharing. You have some great ideas.

    1. Thanks for stopping by, Shirley. I’m glad you enjoyed the tree branch ladder post. Definitely make one. It’s really easy and will add rustic charm to your garden. Joanna

  3. What a great idea! I’d love to add a ladder like this to my garden if I can just find the branches to make it happen. Such a great use of natural materials and a fun alternative to a metal trellis.

    1. Hi Emilee – thanks for stopping by Gingham Gardens and taking the time to leave a comment. This really is an easy project. Good luck and have fun with it! Joanna

  4. Hi. Love the tree branch ladder and chair. I made a arbor out of treebranches years ago. Went over a path to a small fish pond in my front yard. Planted trumpetor vine to grow over it. Lasted about 5 years then we had a bad wind storm. Blew it over. Wish i would have taken pictures of it.

  5. I have really long pieces of bamboo I wanted to make a trellis of some sort to have vines growing to add privacy on a chai link fence.
    Now I know how I will do it! Great use of nature and it’s beauty in everything perfectly imperfect!

  6. Hello Joanna. I’m from Milwaukee Wisconsin. Love your garden ideas. We have the same garden zone….with those cold winters. I enjoy repurposing items for my garden. We also have a backyard unseen spot with stuff lying around so I can relate. Looking forward to more of your ideas. Happy garden crafting.

    1. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to leave such a kind comment. It’s always fun hearing from a gardener from my zone.

    1. Thanks Bonnie. Ummm, I’m not sure why you’re having to log in every time. It’s probably something to do with my spam filter. Thanks for letting me know and I’ll look into it.

    1. My little brother was trimming a tree and several branches were all piled in his driveway when I went visiting. He trimmed up the branches into 5’ and 7’ lengths for me. I was just going to zip tie three together to make a teepee trellis for the new clematis seeds I have started. Now I see your ladder and will be making a couple of them too! Thanks so much for the idea!

    1. Thanks so much for stopping by Gingham Gardens, Nichel! I’m so happy you enjoyed the tree branch post. Come back soon!

  7. Hi there! I just wanted to say I enjoyed your post. I love willow chairs and wish I could find someone to make one near me. Love the ladder trellis idea. Something to make for next spring!

  8. So cute Johanna! I love things made from branches. I would like to make a willow wattle fence some time. They look so cute in your garden. You probably already know that the Silver Lace Vine will over take your trellis in no time. 🙂 Thanks for sharing with the Garden Party.
    hugs,
    Jann

    1. Hi Jann, thanks for stopping by. I’ve really enjoyed the Garden Party this summer and I hope you ladies do it again next year. Yes, the silver lace vine will outgrow my branch ladder by next summer. I brought a little piece of it from my old garden when we moved 2 years ago and it’s already pretty big in comparison to what it started out being. Thanks a bunch for hosting.

  9. Oh Joanna! Just when I knew I already loved a good branch project you take me over the edge…. this is outstanding! I adore how imperfect those branches trail every which way!

    I’m featuring this project in this weekend’s upcoming DIY Salvaged Junk Projects. Thanks for linking up! 🙂

    1. Hi Judy. Thanks for stopping by. I’m sure you can make something rustic and cute out of branches. Good luck!

  10. I am loving these two ideas! I’m going to show these to my husband. Thank you so much for sharing at the garden party. 🙂

  11. This is just darling….such a cute idea!!! I believe I could do this one myself but we don’t have many trees around our place.

    1. Hi Bj, thanks for stopping by. I think you could make a branch ladder too. Maybe take a walk in the woods looking for branches. Wish I could share mine with you, because we have more than enough.

  12. Joanna, I love the ladders…perfectly imperfect! I must get my hubby to build me one, he loves to piddle when he has time! Thanks for sharing at Gardens Galore!

    1. Hi Denise, thanks for stopping by. My bets are on you being able to make an arbor. I’m happy I got your creativity flowing.

  13. Your branch ladders are FABULOUS!! I love how I Interesting they are due to the tree branches. The lace vine growing up one is just lovely. And …Hmmm…a brad nailer…(have always wanted a nail gun :). )thanks for the inspiration!

    1. Hi Susan, I’m so happy you were inspired by the tree branch trellis. Be careful with the nail gun. Happy gardening.

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