Make Room for Garden Structures

Garden Article By Kathy Moran

As long as you’re going to be spending as much time in your yard as you are in your house, you may as well make it just as livable. Although the prospect of landscaping a large space may seem a bit daunting, it will be a lot easier – and more fun – if you approach it in the same way that you would if you were decorating the inside of your house. Since you use separate parts of your yard for different purposes, just as you do the rooms in your home, you can divide it, likewise, into individual “rooms,” and conquer it in a few, manageable projects. The best way to start is by adding some garden structures, such as trellises, lattice enclosures, arbors, or pergolas.

The first thing to consider is the function of each outdoor room. For example, even if you enjoy having a lot of activity in your yard, you’ll always want a place to which you can steal away for relaxation, meditation, and quiet conversation. If you have a pool, you may want a bit more privacy in that area, while leaving a larger spot open for play. Most people also prefer to have a defined niche for dining as well. Each section can easily be tailored to your specific needs, just as your indoor rooms are, when you begin with some walls, which, in this case, will be your garden structures.

From a simple, unimposing trellis, to a paneled garden screen, to a lattice enclosure, each provides a different degree of privacy, and conveys its own design statement. Whether you want a slight demarcation, or total isolation, of an area, you can use a particular structure to create the atmosphere you desire.

One of the great advantages to having these types of walls is that they are much easier to work with than those inside of your home, as they give you many more decorating options. For instance, you can find them in several materials and styles, many of which look stunning – and accomplish your objective – all on their own, so you don’t have to do anything but put them up, if that’s as far as you want to go. However, if, like most people, you want to adorn them, you have endless choices of colors and textures, with vibrant climbing flowers, fruiting vines, and lush ivies. You can also erect outdoor ceilings and archways, in the forms of arbors and pergolas. In fact, a gated arbor, or one with swings and/or benches built into it, can not only help to define an outdoor space, but give it as much charm and character as any room in your home.