Designing a garden can be tricky, it requires a different kind of approach than designing the interior of your home. We use our gardens for different things, and all design choices have to take the weather and the elements into account.
In recent years, we’re seeing more and more people constructing pergolas in their gardens. What exactly is a pergola? What kind of benefits can a pergola offer you? Read on to find out.
What Is a Pergola?
If you’re unfamiliar with garden designs, you may have never heard of a pergola before. They’re actually relatively simple but can be used for a wide range of different things. Hardie Boys offers a wide range of services with Pergola's and Gazebo's.
Pergolas are outdoor structures with a roof of beams supported by posts and columns. Often, pergolas are attached to the side of homes, but they can also be free-standing. Pergolas differ from other similar garden structures due to the open nature of their roofs. Rather than being completely covered, pergolas use a network of beams which still allows some light to filter through.
As we mentioned, pergolas are simple structures, which means they can be fairly easily put together if you have some DIY skills, with material you can easily pick up at a building merchants. You can also buy pre-made pergolas if DIY isn’t your thing.
So, now that we know what a pergola is, let’s take a look at what they can offer and why you should have one in your garden.
A Shady Area
While the roof of the pergola may be slightly open, they still create a shady area. They do so in a unique way, with their partially open roof allowing for the circulation of light and air. This means you can relax in the shade while still enjoying a cool breeze and the daylight.
However, pergolas are versatile, they can be customised and modified in various ways. You can fill in the gaps between the beams in the roof to increase the amount of shade a pergola gives you. One idea is to just cover half of the beams, which will give you one shady area and one brighter area.
You can cover the gaps with wood, but doing so with plants can be an excellent idea. This will create something of a small rooftop garden which can look fantastic.
Extend Your Interior Space
One popular way to set up a pergola is to have it against the wall of your home, covering the main door used to access the garden. If you have sliding patio doors, this can work exceptionally well, and it will essentially extend your interior space, creating a new space that is half indoors, half outdoors.
This can be an excellent way of utilising your outdoor space while still retaining the benefits of a sheltered interior. If you love eating al fresco dinners and hosting garden parties, this is an effective way to make use of a pergola.
Partitions
An important aspect of garden design is dividing and separating your garden into distinct zones and areas. You may have a zone for growing plants, an area for relaxing and entertaining guests, and another area where your kids can play. Doing so can make your garden appear neater and more organised and can make it much easier to manage and maintain.
Partitions and barriers are the best way to clearly mark out and identify these zones, with walls, fences, and bushes commonly used. However, a pergola can be an excellent type of partition too. With the addition of some wire, a pergola can act much like a trellis. This means you can encourage plants to grow on your pergola partition, a much more attractive way of bordering out zones in your garden.
Conclusion
Pergolas are increasingly popular among homeowners, and we’re seeing more and more of them pop up in gardens. They are basic structures, which means they can be easily constructed with some rudimentary DIY knowledge. Despite their simplicity, pergolas offer us a number of advantages and can be used in various different ways. Whether it’s for creating a shady area, extending your interior space into the outdoors, or partitioning off areas of your garden, there are plenty of reasons why you should consider getting a pergola of your very own.
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