A garden arbor is a type of garden structure that invites and entices people into your home landscape design by giving vertical depth to your garden landscape. As a classic element within landscape architecture, arbors provide a cozy feeling of enclosure without boxing you in. When used as a functional structure, arbors support climbing roses, vines and other plants. You can also use them simply in a decorative way, to make an opening that pulls your guests out into your landscape.

A Garden Arbor: Uses

Perhaps the priority of your landscape garden design is gardening and thus you want to support a particular kind of plant. Garden arbors give your vined plants a secure place to grow. Arbors make a great addition to any garden as they showcase beautiful flowers and make them easy to admire and view. When displayed at eye level and above, your prized plants are more easily seen so that guests can appreciate the care and cultivation that went into their growth. Plants that work well with arbors are roses, ivy, clematis, grapes and wisteria.

Other landscaping ideas with arbors include pairing them with a beautiful trellis or garden gazebo that creates a focal point to draw the eye into your garden year-round. They can provide shade on the hottest days, serve as an entrance to a secret garden or act as a conversation piece. When used as a gate to your garden, an arbor says something special about the homeowner. Additionally, arbors are the perfect setting for photo ops on special occasions like holidays, family reunions or business entertaining.

A Garden Arbor: Choices and Options

Sometimes called a garden arch, an arbor can be designed to fit into any landscape with its shape and material selection. Its shape can be varied—rounded, squared or as an arch over pathways. They can come adorned with decorative ironwork, giving your garden a timeless appeal. Embellished with climbing ivy intertwined in lattice and you have a welcoming entrance for your guests to walk through. They can be gated or built with permanent benches. Their design can show Asian, Moorish, Victorian or Art Deco influences, which work well in themed gardens such as a Japanese garden, a Mediterranean landscape design or an English garden design.

You have a wide range of choices with materials, too. Arbors can have a high quality thick-timber redwood frame that is stable as a stand-alone garden element. In the wood category, they can also be found made of cedar or willow. A sturdy tubular steel construction with black powder coating makes for a durable, weather-resistance arbor. Other choices include vinyl, copper and wrought iron.

Arbors dress up any space. Your landscape designer or landscape architect can help you incorporate the arbor into the rest of your landscape, such as by creating a seamless flow down a path to an outdoor room. Or you can personalize the arbor in your yard by the addition of an outdoor water fountain, landscape lighting or other hardscapes.

And now for the fun part. Sit back and enjoy the vignette you've created with this simple structure in your outdoor living environment.