Placing a Garden Arbor for Maximum Impact

A garden arbor can be a conversation piece for your garden – a well placed entry to your entire yard or to a special hidden treasure.

A common mistake made my many amateur gardeners, however, is installing garden arbors in an area where they don’t seem to have a purpose or can’t be seen or appreciated to their full potential.

When placing a garden arbor, consider how you would like guests to think about the arbor. It should elicit at least an illusion of leading somewhere. Including a meandering path made of crushed stones or other natural material will help produce the idea of the arbor leading somewhere special in your garden.

Personalizing the plantings that will cover the arbor is also a good way of establishing its purpose in a particular location. For example, if the arbor leads to a lovely rose garden, planting a climbing rose that will drape itself around the arbor will give visitors a hint of what awaits beyond.

Landscape designers suggest that garden portals such as gates or arbors suggest that a yard is actually larger than it really is. Incorporating this knowledge into your garden plan can give even the smallest yard the illusion of more space.

When evaluating potential locations for your garden arbor, consider the surrounding structures, if any exist. If you have a fence with strong vertical or horizontal lines, a rounded top arbor may look out of place next to it. Repeating the lines of the fence on a more linear arbor will enhance the strength of its visual appeal.

Finally, consider the practical traffic flow in your yard or garden. An arbor might look fantastic as an accent at the entry to the space, but if the arbor is narrower than the gate, to could impede visitors to your garden, or even movement of practical tools such as lawn mowers or wheel barrows.

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