Emrich Home Improvement Pages

Garden structures play various design roles. Fences and trellises can create separate "rooms" in a backyard, and gazebos, arbors, and overheads can provide shelter, privacy, and support for plants. Choosing the right materials and design that best fit your needs, taste, and budget is critical. By making the right choices, you will be able to connect your outdoor spaces to your home and its surrounding environment.

Pergola or Arbor?
The difference is rather like "tomayto," "tomahto." An arbor is typically made of rustic wood or latticework on which plants, such as climbing shrubs or vines, are grown. A pergola uses posts or columns to support a trelliswork roof for climbing plants to grow on. Both structures are a refuge from household bustle - a place to sit quietly or to host a party on a warm evening. They provide shade during the day and shelter during cool evenings, yet are open to breezes and garden views. Pergolas and arbors play decorative and practical roles in the garden. They can support climbing plants, tie together garden areas, define zones of use, direct foot traffic and mask a plain or unsightly feature. Arbors are literally defined as latticework covered by shrubs or vines. They tend to be sizable structures that afford peaceful shelter in which to relax and reflect. Arbors can be partially attached to a house wall or roof or can be freestanding, colonnade-style. Arbors don't have to be full-scale "outdoor rooms" to have a pleasing visual effect. Even a simple one can enliven a gate, a path, or a wall, and add distinction to a garden nook.

Trellises
Trellises, usually simpler and quicker to build, can enliven walls and fences - or stand alone to create a focal point in your garden scheme. Most trellises support climbing plants, which turn them into living ornaments that vary with the seasons. But many gardeners use these same structures without plants. The only criterion is what looks right in your garden. Set a trellis on its own in your garden for a visual exclamation point. It's up to you whether the emphasis is on plants brought skyward or on the trellis itself. Traditional trellises dress up house and garden walls and fences, while freestanding trellises may serve as screens, panels, or walls themselves.