The grey cattle panel was painted black so that it visually recedes into background. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

“Charlotte I love, love, love your garden arbors, how did you make those?” - Anna

Cattle Panel Arbor

Hi Anna, aren’t they fun?

They are relatively easy to make. I live in the Missouri Ozarks where these cattle and pig panels have been standard garden arbors.

I used two cattle panels laced together to make a longer corridor into my northern apiary, it’s the one in this blog post photo.

I dressed my cattle panel arbors with black paint and then cedar boughs from my trees to soften the arbor entrances. I have a lot of cedar trees on my limestone hillside so I have a ready source of cedar. I also like to remove the bottom cedar tree branches so that I can more easily walk along my paths.

To easily bend these, tie one end with a strong rope, pull the rope through the other side and gently pull the rope. That will make it easier to move the cattle panel arbor into place.

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Charlotte