Slugs and Salal - Garden Structures

GARDEN STRUCTURES ... and plants to grow on them

Arbors and trellises clothed with vining plants bring far more than an added esthetic dimension to a garden. While lush walls and overhead bowers of beauty and fragrance breathe an aura of poetry and romance into an outdoor living space, they offer also the very practical advantages of cooling shade and saved space.

Covered structures are soothing retreats that invite repose and offer sanctuary from both the heat of the summer sun and the grinding stresses of life. Vine-covered sitting-out spaces also introduce a note of gentle nostalgia into a garden, evoking as they do a slower-paced time when it seems that people lived more graciously. Such plant-clad resting places in fact make a statement about one's aspirations for a quality of life that includes time set apart for relaxation and restoration of body, mind and spirit in a tranquil and lovely natural setting.

SELECTING STRUCTURES

Trellises

Trellises designed for visual appeal in their own right are often constructed of strips of wood crisscrossed to form a diamond or rectangular latticework pattern. Trellises can also be constructed in a fan shape, or in any free form that suits the space, the plants to be grown on them, and one's personal taste.

Fences constructed in an openwork pattern can be used as trellises to form a leafy perimeter around a garden. Freestanding trellises placed strategically in the garden can provide privacy screens or serve to divide one garden space from another.

Trelliswork walls can be used also to save space in the vegetable garden for such edibles as cucumbers and pole beans, or to bring the fragrance of sweet peas or honeysuckle into an area where the flowers' perfume will be most appreciated.

Arbors

Arbors are formed by vines trained up and over a framework of wood or metal. These structures are usually freestanding, but sometimes they are attached to the house to form a handy and congenial summer place for resting and taking meals within walls and a canopy of cooling greenery.

Arbor comes from the Latin word for tree, indicating this structure's basic purpose -- to supply the sort of shelter a tree would give. As shaded retreats designed for repose, arbors are often supplied with built-in or movable seating.

The olden-time term "bower", sometimes used interchangeably with arbor, strictly speaking denotes plant growth that forms a natural recess without the support of a structure.

Archways

Archways are abbreviated arbors formed in the shape of an inverted squared or rounded U. They are most often placed over an entranceway to a garden, often in conjuction with a gate. Draped with flowering vines, archways extend a bloom-filled greeting to visitors. A series of flower-covered archways spaced at intervals along a sunny pathway creates a pleasant floral walkway in the summer garden.

Pergolas

Pergolas originated in hot climates, where they were designed to offer a shaded canopy over a terrace or a shaded passageway from one building to another or from one part of the garden to another. Traditionally, pergolas are strong structures made of sturdy posts and substantial crossbeams for supporting the more vigorous types of plants such as wisteria. Two or three types of vine are sometimes grown on the same pergola.

The pergola was known in ancient Egypt, and was a common feature in Italian Renaissance gardens. Though pergolas have not been so popular in northern countries where shade is less attractive, these structures did enjoy a marked revival for growing wisteria in Great Britain during the early part of the 20th century. In modern usage, arbor is the term often used for both arbor and pergola type structures.

Gazebos

Gazebos, small roofed pavilions designed to provide shade and a view of the garden, originated as watchtowers in fortress walls. An 18th-century joke word, gazebo combines gaze with the Latin suffix ebo meaning "I shall".

Traditionally made with a solid roof, flooring, seats, and sides left open above the seating, these summer houses have not been used historically as plant support structures. However, modern adaptations such as an open gridwork roof and partial trelliswork walls can transform a gazebo into a flowery retreat with a view.

CHOOSING CLIMBERS

When selecting vines to grow on a garden structure, consider whether you would prefer perennial or annual plants, whether flowers are imperative, and whether you would like the vines to yield edibles. Scarlet runner beans, for instance, offer both brilliant flowers and delicious green beans. The plants, being annual, would leave the structure bare in winter -- something that can be desirable when the support is a particularly decorative one.

Assess the nature of the structure and match the vine to it. The effect of an elegantly designed support would become lost under the growth of a vigorous, dense-leaved climber such as grape or Dutchman's pipe. A better choice for such a support would be one of the lacy-leaved clematis species. Vines with a heavy, woody framework such as wisteria need a strong, longlasting support.

Be aware too that vines climb by different methods. Some twine around the support. Morning glory, honeysuckle and wisteria are twiners. Others, such as sweet peas and clematis, grasp a support with tendrils or twisting leaf stalks. Both twiners and tendril-graspers need a support structure made of some narrow, easily clutched material such as lath for easy encircling.

A few vines produce small discs or rootlets that cling strongly to a support. Such are the ivies and climbing hydrangea. With these, consider the hard task of prying the stems loose should removing them become desirable or necessary. Inevitably bits of rootlet or disc will be left on the structure surface. These tenacious vines can also force fine wood structures apart by insinuating their way into the joints.

To be sure of selecting a perennial vine that will be hardy in your garden, it's always preferable to purchase the plants at a local garden outlet.

CARING FOR CLIMBERS

Except where labels indicate otherwise, climbers will produce their best growth, flowers and fruit in full or nearly full sun, with spacing and pruning adequate to allow good circulation of air to all parts of the plant. All the vines require a well-drained soil. And because a climber, whether annual or perennial, is expected to put out extensive growth from its planting site, it's important to prepare the area well by digging it deeply and incorporating compost and/or composted manure along with a little bone meal. Apart from the bone meal at planting, wait until a plant has settled in and is showing strong new growth before fertilizing.