An attractive garden arbor trellis design will add a much needed focal point to your outdoor spaces. Garden arbors and trellises come in a wide range of styles, colors, and materials. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find one that will meet your needs as well as your taste and style. Features like these also offer you an opportunity to grow plants like ivy, vines, and roses which grow upward naturally. Plants like these will use the structure for support as they take their course of growth upward toward the sun.
Garden arbors and trellises can be found in a variety of styles or shapes to meet most preferences. Popular arbor trellis designs like gothic, arch, gable, or pergola are the most common. The most popular being one with a rounded top or an arch. Gable usually has a triangular top which is slanted in some way adding a big of architecture to an area. Gothic comes with pointy tops and contains more curves throughout the structure. Pergola arbor on the other hand, are square topped which makes them easier to blend or fit into most garden pergola designs.
Outdoor arbors, trellises, and pergolas are usually made of similar materials as other garden features like fences, benches, gazebos, and planters. Most common material used for these is wood, vinyl, wrought iron, and copper. Wood was once the most widely used material in garden arbor trellis designs but consumers have now discovered that materials like vinyl, copper, and iron last much longer and require less maintenance. Of course wrought iron is the strongest of these and can be found with a powder coating that protects the structure from rusting and deteriorating. Copper is another sturdy product that changes to a greenish color in time making it ideal if you are looking for a feature that will eventually blend in with the plants around it.
An arbor or trellis can also be found to include a built in bench, planter, gate, and even a swing. The width of the structure will vary from about 42 inches to 60 inches and beyond. It is recommended that you fasten a patio arbor or rose trellis to the ground especially if you live in a windy area. This prevents the weight of the plants from tipping the feature over. Prices for these larger items usually range from $150 to around $500. The price will of course depend on the type of materials used and most can be found year round but will of course be in greater demand during the gardening season.
When determining which garden arbor trellis or pergola will best fit your landscape or garden design you must first begin by first determining which material will best fit in with other parts of your garden. You definitely do not want a metal arbor mixed in with other elements like cedar or vinyl. Look at things like fences or benches and make sure you choose something that is similar. For instance, if you have many objects made of cedar or bamboo then you should probably go with a cedar arbor or bamboo trellis. The style or shape of the structure you choose will highly depend on your personal taste or it could also be decided by the style of other items in the area. The size will of course solely depend on the space available. Remember that sometimes things that are small but placed well and can easily blend with other things and materials around it will make a more profound impact.
Garden arches, gazebos, pergolas, and other similar structures can easily found at home improvement stores, gardening stores, and nurseries. Department stores carry them as well but mostly seasonally at a great price. They tend to run out quickly because of demand so you will need to get out before the crowd in order to get one for cheap. If you know what you are looking for, finding it shouldn’t be a problem especially if you aren’t too worried about cost. If you are however working with a small budget, it is recommended that you search online for a good deal. Some companies sell arbor trellis plans giving you an opportunity to purchase the lumber yourself at a lower price. This option is more difficult but if you are someone who is handy and interested in using reclaimed wood, this is definitely the greener option to outdoor structure building.
My husband and I decided to enclose our garden with vinyl trellises all around. At first I thought the white vinyl would look too white and artificial looking among the rest of my garden structures but with time it has blended well with the plants and scenery. We do have to wash the trellises every spring because white vinyl does get stained and dirty with time. If we were to do it over, we would probably choose a colored vinyl that would look good even when dirty so washing would not be necessary.