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Archive for the ‘Arbors and Arches’ Category
A Welcoming Arbor
While flowers and other flora are indubitably the focal point of your garden, adding home décor items can add a extra element of design to an outdoor living area. Even when the flowers and trees aren’t in full bloom, these inanimate objects will suffuse your garden with beauty. One of my personal favorite pieces of garden décor is the basic garden arbor.
An arbor can be two different things: a shady recess in a garden or park formed by foliage branches, or a latticework structure with climbing shrubs, vines, or flowers. An alternative term for garden arbors is bower. An arbor can serve as a doorway to a separate area of the garden, a part of the perimeter and border landscaping, or a place to welcome guests.
Flower And Foliage Fragrance
You can add fragrance to you plantings this year by using a variety of flowers or foliage such as leafy plants, herbs or evergreens. The area where you will be planting nay define what type of fragrant plants to use, but the idea is to maximize the ability to enjoy the fragrance. The motto “the closer the better” is a good thought to keep in mind. Fragrant flowers placed at a level closer to the nose and/or near locations that you frequent will maximize the enjoyment of fragrant plants.
When choosing fragrance, plan carefully to avoid choosing fragrances that conflict with each other. Gardeners have created standard categories of fragrances to help differentiate floral scents from one another. They are as follows:
- Balsamic – found in leaves that contain menthol or minty oils-includes mints, sages, rosemary, lavender, wormwood, balsam and eucalyptus.
- Fruity-found in a wide range of plants-includes flowering fruits, fruit-scented geraniums and roses, grape hyacinth and magnolia.
- Heavy-found in flowers with a strong perfume fragrance-includes gardenia, jasmine, roses and orange blossom.
- Honeyed-found in different flowers-includes hawthorn, barberry and hybrid musk roses.
- Rose-the smell of old European garden roses-includes roses, peonies and honeysuckle.
- Spicy-this fragrance is often combined with other scents and is found in leaves and flowers-includes carnations, pinks, azaleas and nasturtium.
- Sweet-found in flowers, grasses and ferns.
- Unique-even more distinct and refined than the heavy scents-includes lily-of-the-valley, sweet pea, some iris, wisteria and common lilac.
- Violet-only in a few plants such as sweet voilet, Siberian crabapple and orris root.
You can use various gardening ideas to promote your fragrant plants such as in containers at a level “closer to the nose”, in combination with an arch, arbor or trellis, along a path where they will brush your leg to spread the fragrance, in a raised garden or as a landscaping point. Ask your gardening center which plants will produce the fragrance that tantalizes your sense of smell and will grow in the situation you desire. Of our five senses, smell can be one of the most rewarding. Enjoy the fragrance of your plants.
What is an Arbor?
If you’re at all interested in increasing the aesthetic appeal of your garden, you’ve probably looked into adding some kind of trellis or arbor. But if you’re unfamiliar with these products, the exact definition of an arbor might be a little hazy. If that’s the case, an arbor is sometimes known as a pergola. The terms are used almost interchangeably. By whatever name, garden arbors are designed to offer people a shaded walkway in a garden.
These arbors are often constructed of pillars with cross beams for support as well as heavy lattice work. Over and around the structure, vines and other types of flowers are trained to grow. The most common flowers and vines to be used for this purpose are grape vines, bougainvillea, and other climbing or flowering plants. If the main purpose of the arbor is merely shade, some people use a pervasive plant like ivy, which is difficult to kill but offers a thick covering and lots of shade.