Is there anything prettier and more romantic than a garden pergola draped with flowers? These structures create distinct areas for seating and dining, or garden rooms that are seamlessly connected with the outdoors. Most importantly, they provide shady spots in the summer for relaxing away from the heat of the sun. The classic arrangement is a wooden frame, covered in some sort of climbing plant–wisteria creates an incredibly beautiful pergola–or an abundance of thin wooden sticks. A pergola can come in all shapes and sizes, from simple and rustic to elaborate cast-iron versions and there’s a wealth of plants to train around them.
The question of if it’s cheaper to buy or build a pergola often crops up and the answer is build. A pre-made pergola can be costly, though entirely worth it for the hassle saved of planning, drawing, cutting and constructing your own. In the middle, you can find pergola kits, which provide all the pre-measured, pre-cut, treated wood you require, as well as the screws and tools to build it. All you then need to do is construct the thing by following the instructions–just like when you assemble IKEA furniture.
For any garden building or large purchase, we would always opt for wood and think a wooden pergola is a natural fit for any garden. You can train plants to grow up and over them and it looks natural, plus the plant provides some sort of protection from the elements. However, for real longevity, a metal pergola will last a long time without any of the natural wear that occurs to wood. Where a wooden pergola might start to rot away in one of the supports and need replacing, that will never happen with an aluminium pergola or similar. The downside is perhaps the aesthetic appeal, though once you add a pergola canopy of plants, it’s quite lovely.
The best way to enjoy a lovely pergola canopy is to train a trailing plant or vine to grow around it. A wisteria is always a top choice as there’s simply nowhere nicer to be than under your garden pergola when the flowers are in bloom. To train a plant up a pergola, simply plant it at the bottom of one of the posts and angle it towards the structure. Tie wires up the post so that you can secure shoots to the wires as they appear and this’ll have your pergola covered in lovely foliage in no time. If the idea of a plant pergola canopy isn’t for you, you can buy shades to cover it easily enough instead.
The benefits of a corner pergola are simple enough: two of the four sides are already built for you, meaning less construction on your part. A corner pergola simply extends from two walls, so you only need a central support on the other corner and then the canopy part can be drilled directly onto the two walls.
Here are some examples from the House & Garden archive to inspire your garden pergola ideas.The same has been done by Joanna Plant in this Ibizan house, though the structure here is wood and much more rustic. It is a charming pergola.
The same has been done by Joanna Plant in this Ibizan house, though the structure here is wood and much more rustic. It is a charming pergola.
In the garden of her Mykonos house, designer Rebecca Korner needed to create shady spaces to shield the strong Mediterranean sun. In a traditionally European style, she created a pergola laying thin sticks of bamboo across a series of slats, allowing the sun to come in a bit without heating the patio up.
Another pergola in the designer Rebecca Korner’s Mykonos house. The bamboo roof of this timber structure creates dappled shade for built-in seating areas in coloured cement with views of the sea and pool. Fifties rattan ‘Margherita’ chairs by Franco Albini for Bonacina, a locally made treetrunk coffee table and a Tuareg reed rug from Morocco create a relaxed feel.
This pergola is an essential in this extravagantly romantic garden set against the dramatic landscape of New South Wales. The weather can be extreme, so on hot, windy days, the family retreats to the swimming pool pavilion. Pergolas on either side are covered in climbing roses, which cocoon the family in a lovely space.
Parcevall Hall in the Yorkshire Dales is testament to the vision of Sir William Milner, who bought the dilapidated hillside farmhouse in the Twenties and transformed its 24 acres with terraces, tranquil garden rooms and rare plants. On the first terrace, there is a weathered wooden pergola that creates a walkway across to other vistas.
Create secluded and romantic seating by constructing a square pergola, draped with white wisteria (because we just can’t get enough). Traditional bistro seating completes the look.
Shady resting places are plentiful in Tricia Guild’s Italian garden: two long tables, ideal for languorous dining, stand below a green canopy of six pollarded plane trees, which form a pergola of sorts. It’s an innovative way to create this sort of structure in the garden.
The gardens at Petworth are completely beautiful and not shy of a pergola or two. The pergola above a walkway at the side of the cloister garden becomes a tunnel of fragrant Wisteria floribunda ‘Alba’ in early summer. The path is edged with camassia, Euphorbia polychroma, dicentra and Digitalis purpurea ‘Camelot Queen’ in a restful cream and green scheme. An arch leads to the south lawn.
Pergolas swathed in Wisteria floribunda ‘Alba’ create a backdrop for Iris pallida var. dalmatica in the cloister garden at Petworth.
This wisteria-clad pergola in the garden of a London flat designed by Charlotte Crosland provides shade for outdoor dining. Hanging wisteria and striped cushions make this an idyllic outside space. The pergola was installed by Sean Walter of The Plant Specialist.
If you want to create a space for outdoor entertaining, a strategically placed pergola like this in the Sussex home of the late Helen Green, is perfect for giving a feeling of enclosure, without obstructing the view. Train a climbing plant over it for blousy summer blooms.
A pretty painted pastel blue pergola provides a sheltered spot for summer dining in an English country garden.
A circular pool designed by Edwin Lutyens is highlighted by the oak pergola behind, which frames a pretty dining area in the walled garden at Folly Farm. The pool is the only element left from Edwin Lutyens, who designed these gardens along with Gertrude Jekyll.
source : houseandgarden
Parsaland Trading Company with many activities in the fields of import and export, investment consulting, blockchain consulting, information technology and building construction