Sometimes, it's hard to fight nature. Plants will grow wherever they want and as fast as they like—despite our best efforts otherwise. A Redditor with the username Rossionq1 realized this when it came to trimming his driveway. Surrounded by lush vegetation in coastal South Carolina, he became tired of pruning the vines around his driveway multiple times a week. So instead of continuing to cut them, he decided to lean into the plants’ propensity for rapid growth. He built a tunnel to help keep the flora tidy, and it doubles as a beautiful way to frame the road.
Rossionq1 created the tunnel on May 26, 2022, and in just a few months, the wireframe is well on its way to being completely covered in green. There’s a mix of plants lining it including wisteria, grape, dewberry, and bamboo. By the Redditor’s estimation, the entire thing will be cloaked in vegetation by the end of the year.
The enchanting tunnel is a DIY project by Rossionq1. As a software and systems engineer, he likes building stuff. To construct the tunnel, he used metal conduits as its “ribs” and lined them with chicken wire. “Each end is anchored to a concrete buried ground anchor,” he describes. “The plants will have some weight, but I’ve never seen it collapse a branch anywhere so I think the rigidity of the vines is close to canceling out the weight of the vines themselves. So far, it is shifted zero in any dimension (been watching closely).”
Aside from looking like something out of a storybook, the structure has been helpful in keeping the road unobstructed. “The areas not yet fully covered get some vines creeping in but nothing like before,” the Redditor explains. “Once the leaves basically shade out the driveway underneath, the vines stop trying to grow inwards.”
A Redditor with the username Rossionq1 became tired of pruning the vines around his driveway multiple times a week.
So instead of continuing to cut them, he decided to lean into the plants’ propensity for rapid growth.
He built a tunnel to help keep the flora tidy, and it doubles as a beautiful way to frame the road.
The enchanting tunnel is a DIY project and is already filled out with a lot of vines.
Rossionq1: Reddit
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Rossionq1.
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