Introduction
Garden with arbour : You know that feeling when you walk through someone’s garden and there’s this magical archway that just draws you in? That’s the power of a well-placed garden with arbour. I’ve been gardening for more than a decade now and one of the best things I ever did for my garden was adding an arbour.
Whether you’re attempting to pull off a particularly romantic entrance, give a beautiful view of your roses a frame, or perhaps just provide some height to your garden, a well-deployed arbour can completely alter the way your garden feels. I’ve seen tiny city gardens improved immeasurably by nothing more complex than a plain wooden arch, and I’ve seen expansive country plots ennobled by elaborate wine-covered structures.
Classic & Timeless Designs
1. Classic Wooden Rose Arbour
There’s something completely enchanting about strolling beneath a wooden arbour covered with climbing roses. I put up my first rose arbour three years ago, and to see it go from a boring cedar frame into a blooming fragrant masterpiece has been amazing. The inimitable wood aging shows and it looks better every year that weathered silvery patina cedar takes on is just gorgeous. Both my climbing ‘Eden’ roses are up and over the top now, and the scent envelops you as you walk up to the archway.
2. Modern Metal Garden Entrance
If you love the clean lines of modern style, like me, and hate anything to traditionally cutesy, a metal arbour might be just what you’re looking for. I visited a friend at the ultra-modern garden with arbour that they built and out front was this smooth black powder-coated steel arch. The angular side pieces were interesting but not prissy, and the way their ornamental grasses fluttered on the bottom was just lovely. This modern garden design with arbour was also perfectly contemporary showing how modern materials can turn a classic style garden structure into something fresh and clean.
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3. Rustic Cottage-Style Arbour
Okay, okay, I’ll admit it: I’m a total sucker for anything that might have once rested in an English countryside garden. My garden with arbour was built with old barn wood my neighbour was getting rid of (lucky me!), and it’s perfectly imperfect. I don’t think this should happen, but one of the posts is a little lower for me, that sort of weathered, lived-in feel, and honestly? This is what I hoped it would be. Well I’ve got honeysuckle that has taken it over at the moment, and the smell is just incredible, on summer evenings.
4. Japanese-Inspired Minimalist Design
I got up to pee and then couldn’t sleep; the difference between morning and evening feels blurrier than ever, and I turned my face to what might have been your last year’s visit to a Japanese garden with arbour (and much else, and much else is what I was suddenly longing for, sharp and angry longing, but the Japanese garden is what I am going to write to you about, I guess, and it’s your good luck). Japanese-influenced arbour The trick here is no-frills, zen materials, rather than fussy.
5. Victorian Ornate Garden Arch
If subtlety is not your forte, look no further than Victorian drama! I saw a spectacular spruce wrought iron arbour on the tour of a heritage garden with arbour and it was the showstopper. I mean, intricate scrollwork, ornate finials, the works. The outside was lined with ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’ and all white roses and I nearly died. Yes, they are higher-maintenance than simpler styles, yes, they also tend to be pricier, but, well, you can’t argue with results.
Functional & Practical Solutions
6. Pergola-Style Wide Arbour
That’s what you get for arch nursery doors, part seven hundred twenty-five: than a decorative wannabe archway , you want some coverage! Last summer I helped a friend put in a large pergola-style arbour in their garden, with arbour design it’s the focal point of their outdoor entertaining area. It’s 10 feet wide, runs the length of their patio, and right now has these gorgeous grapevines on it that actually provide shade. This practical garden with arbour approach shows that practical beauty can work wonders to turn the simplest outdoor space into a real living space.
7. White Picket Fence Arbour
There is something so cheerfully American about a white picket fence arbour. I put one at the entrance to my vegetable garden with arbour last year and it instantly pulled that area together and made it feel welcoming. And the bright white paint really makes everything else stand out my morning glories look amazing popping against that white. Just about the only one I can think of, to be honest.
8. Climbing Vine Paradise
A This one’s for my fellow plant addicts! With my second arbour, I created it to show off many climbing plants. I named it after author Michael Pollan; instead of riffing on his book titles I wanted to inhibit the final form, and make the structure about the search for the perfect support system for the vines. I have clematis, jasmine, climbing roses and even some annual nasturtiums duking it out for real estate (in a good way).
9. Bench-Integrated Arbour
Talk about smart design! My sister has this lovely arbour with built-in benches, and it is everybody’s favourite place is her garden with arbour. Climbing roses grow above, providing some natural shade, and her benches have been placed so that they can gaze out over her flower borders. It’s like your own private garden room.”
10. Curved Archway Design
That’s O.K. straight lines are easy but curves? Curves add magic. I became a devotee for the glory of curved arbours after seeing one at Chelsea Flower Show (yes, I am the kind of garden with arbour nerd who will go abroad for a flower show). The gentle curve makes for this gorgeous, flowing quality that just carries you through.
Special Occasion & Unique Designs
11. Double-Arch Wedding Style
Two years ago, my daughter was married in our garden with arbour and we used matching white arbours for the ceremony. The wedding is behind us now, but we held on to them because they’re just so incredibly stunning all year long. This symmetrical layout gives this sense of formality and importance that feeling that you are being received, somewhere special.
12. Trellis-Panel Side garden with Arbour
I also love what trellis panels can do to enhance a plain arbour. My neighbor put diamond-pattern lattice on the sides of her simple wooden arch and it made all the difference in the world. Now she has these sweet peas weaving through the lattice, giving her this beautiful feeling of sitting in a room that is just partially enclosed rather than totally obstructing her view.
13. Stone Pillar Arbour
I went to an estate garden last year which had stone pillar arbours and they probably appeared to have always been there. The raw fieldstone columns were huge and heavy topped with 4 x 6 wooden cross beams covered in the most amazing wisteria. These are permanent structures that will outlive us all, but if you live there and you want to make a statement, nothing can match stone.
14. Bamboo Natural Arbour
My environment-conscious friend built the most spectacular bamboo arbour and I’m in love. Bamboo is highly sustainable, incredibly strong and has a lovely natural appearance that fits and functions so perfectly in naturalistic gardens. They produce intriguing shadows when the sun comes through, and a Bonus: If the wind whistles through, you get sound effects.
15. Copper Pipe Modern Arbour
This is by far the strangest arbour I’ve ever come across, but I love it! A landscape designer I follow on Instagram made this amazing copper pipe structure and watching the way it ages is super interesting. Copper gets that lovely green patina, and those clean industrial lines look incredible with the right plants. Hers has passion vine growing on it, and the difference between the geometric structure of the pipe and the wild, organic, flowing vines is amazing.
Garden with Arbour: Architectural Statement Pieces
16. Gothic Pointed Arch
Gothic architecture in the garden? Yes, please! It was one of the most impressive pointed arch arbours I have ever seen in a monastery garden and it took my breath away. The sense of extending toward the sky is dramatic and spiritual in the tall, narrow proportions and pointed top. Covered with dark red climbing roses (I believe they were ‘Mister Lincoln’), the effect against the pointed silhouette was pure poetry.
17. Living Tree Arbour
This is perhaps the most patient gardening project I have ever taken on! Five years ago, I put in two young fruit trees and intended to espalier them arch-like. It’s slow work we’re talking years, not months but watching the arch shape slowly form has been so gratifying. They are maybe 80 percent there right now, contrasted with how they bloom in spring, and it is magical. It does require the right type of tree (fruit trees work well, as do some willows), regular maintenance with a pruner, and patience.
18. Gate-Integrated Arbour
Security meets beauty! When I needed to add a gate to block deer from getting into the vegetable garden, I opted to make that gate part of an arbor rather than a strictly utilitarian barrier. The wooden gate is built into the arch and I’ve got clematis just growing all over it. It’s functional (holds in the deer) and it’s pretty (welcome to my garden!).
19. Multi-Level Tiered Design
for those of us who can never have too many plants in one place! My multi-leveled arbour has varying heights and levels to its framework, and that’s what allows me to grow different climbers simultaneously. I have more delicate climbing roses ungulate-tree-level where I can smell them, grape vines for overhead protection. The different heights cast really interesting shadows throughout the day, and I can stagger the timing of plants blooming so that I have something interesting all season long.
20. Corner Garden Arbour
Small space, big impact! When I downsized to a house with a small urban garden, I assumed my arbour dreams were over. Then I discovered corner installations. By tucking an arbour into the corner of my tiny patio, I’ve made this little private getaway that’s not too large for the space. The angled approach in fact makes the corner feel more spacious, not less, and my jasmine has formed a sweet private nook. Working with a small space but still enjoying that enchanted arbour sensation, corner setting may be your answer.
Immersive & Experiential Designs
21. Pathway Tunnel Arbour
When I walk through my tunnel arbour, I feel like I’m being transported to a secret garden! Instead of one arch, I made an elongated/the group of connected arches that come all the way to make a complete tunnel over my path. The effect of walking that way is to completely alter how you traverse the garden, instead of rushing past you moving more slowly, gazing up at the canopy of intertwined vines above.
22. Mediterranean Style Arbour
Taymor, after returning from a trip to Tuscany (I know, tough!),, I became infatuated with Mediterranean garden style. I have Mediterranean pergolas for example, and they are stucco columns adorned with iron imagery and I do this pleaching with vines on top of it and surround it with lavender and rosemary. Its colors, terra cotta, and plants that can handle drought make it ideal for our increasingly warm summers.
23. Contemporary Geometric Design
This amazing geometric steel arbour for her modern garden was designed by my architect friend, and it’s like garden sculpture you can walk through. With its angular design and near perfect proportions, it throws amazing shadows and patterns that vary according to the time of day. She filled it with ornamental grasses instead of the typical climbing vines, and how they sway in the wind against that straight-up construction is hypnotic.
24. Fairy Tale Enchanted Arbour
Let your inner child go wild! My whimsical arbour, with its intentionally uneven and curvilinear lines, mingling metals, mixed media and a leaning toward a storybook feel. I used branches that were naturally curved when I found them after storm damage, and I’ve planted it with every fragrant, flowering vine in bright colors I could get my hands on. It’s not refined or restrained, but it makes everyone smile. My grandkids call it the “magic door,” and that’s precisely what I was going for.
25. Seasonal Color-Changing Arbour
This is my garden moment of pride! I designed my arbour just for this, with various plants that come into their own throughout the year. Clematis looks stunning when grown up a home; early in the spring, clematis will bloom; in the summer, climbing roses will reach the peak and in the autumn, Virginia creeper will turn to a bright red, not to mention the beautiful structure all winter long, and with evergreen for interest.
FAQs
What’s actually the difference between an arbour and a pergola?
I get this question constantly! Think of it this way – an arbour is like a doorway (usually 3-4 feet wide), while a pergola is like a room (8 feet or more wide). My garden with arbour designs are all about creating entrances and focal points, while pergolas are more about creating outdoor living spaces with overhead coverage.
Honestly, how much should I budget for a decent garden arbour?
From my experience, you can build a simple but lovely wooden arbour for $200-400 if you’re handy with tools. What are my options for planters? Pre-made metal ones at garden centers range $150-800, depending on the size and quality. If you’re going to get a custom design or hire professionals 500-2000+. My advice? Start simple, you can always upgrade later as your plants grow and your garden evolves.
What climbing plants actually work well without taking over everything?
Great question! For novice gardeners, I always suggest clematis (the more diminutive types, in particular), simple climbing roses like “New Dawn” or “Eden,’’ and annual vines like morning glories and sweet peas. Stay away from anything super vigorous, like trumpet vine or English ivy, unless you want to do a lot of work on maintenance. I learned this lesson when my wisteria tried to eat my entire arbour!
What is with all this permit and official crap for a garden arbour?
It varies depending on where you live and the size of your structure. Many simple arbors less than 8 feet tall do not require a permit, but there are wide variations in the rules. As always, you should check with your local building department first: A phone call now will save you headaches later.
