Everything You Need to Know About Arbors

You want both. As any student of design can tell you, form should follow function.  An arbor is beautiful because it gives climbing, rambling, and twining flowers, fruits, and vegetables a spine to grow on. Arbors aren’t just a place to keep wisteria and climbing roses off the ground. They bring vertical zing to the horizontal ho-hum of a yard or garden. That mix of shapes is a design principal called contrast, and it keeps your garden from being predictable. They also draw the eye upward, making the garden around it feel larger and grander.

How do I choose an arbor that’ the right size, scale, and style?

Pick an arbor that goes with the architectural style of your house. An ornate, cottage-style arbor will look as out of place next to a mid-century mod house as boho fringe on a Burberry coat. Make sure your  arbor is tall and wide enough for you to walk through it: at least six feet high and three feet wide. The arbor also needs to be in scale with its surroundings. Arbors range in size from three feet wide to 10 feet wide. You’ll need a big garden to accommodate an arbor that’s the length of a smart car, but a three-foot-wide arbor is ideal for a most home gardens. Be sure you get one sturdy enough to support the weight of climbing plants, and made of weatherproof materials that can stand up to the elements. An arbor that falls apart in two seasons or collapses beneath the weight of a wisteria is a garden fail.

Can I make an arbor?

Yes, if you’re handy with tools, you can build an arbor custom to your space. If you’re more binge watcher of HGTV than weekend woodworker, you can buy kits that can be assembled with nothing more than patience and a screwdriver. And of course, you can buy ready-to-go arbors that require neither artisan skills nor tools.

What are the best materials for arbors?

You can find arbors made of iron, steel, wood, and wood polymer composite materials that can stand up to the wear and tear of the outdoors. Wood and metal arbors have the most classic looks. For a long-lived arbor, choose a weather resistant wood such as cedar that’s resistant to rot and insects, or powdered coated metal that can withstand rust.

What are the most common styles of arbors?

Read on to find out about arched, moon gate, gabled and bench-equipped arbors so you can decide which one belongs in you garden.

Arched Arbors

Arched Arbor: This is a classic shape, the one you’ll most often see. It’s generally made of wood or metal. It has two flat sides that meet overhead in a graceful arch. An arched arbor usually has grid or ladder-rung-style supports that plants can hold onto as they climb upward. If the arbor is ornate and you want it to show, plant sparsely so its curlicues and trim can be glimpsed through the green. If you want the plants to be the star, let them take over and cover the arbor in a sheet of green.

Best plants for an arched arbor: Twining plants like Passionflower, clematis and jasmines. Climbing nasturtium or Coral honeysuckle will race up an arbor and give you a flowery gateway. Train a climbing rose to climb up the arbor so you walk through a portal of fragrant roses when you walk into your garden.

Moon Gate Arbors

Moon Gate Arbor: Moon gate arbors are semi-circles that look like, you guessed it, a three-quarter moon. They’re wider than other types of arbors, ranging from 6 to 8 feet across, so they’re good for large spaces. They’re usually made of metal and have ladder-like slats for twining vines to hang onto. Left bare, their stark minimalism would look right at home in a contemporary or Asian-style garden, playing the starring role of sculpture instead of the supporting role as plant support. Moon gate arbors are based on moon gates, which originated in ancient China where they were placed in garden walls and intended to resemble a moon rising from the landscape. The Chinese believed moon gates to be symbols of birth and renewal and a representation of the endless cycle of life. As a design element, moon gate arbors make a gorgeous portal between the outside world and the inside of your garden, bringing Zen cool to your space

Best plants for a moon gate arbor: Flowering vines that aren’t woody, like clematis and sweet pea, will race up the moon gate. Choose an annual vine and the moon gate arbor becomes a modernist sculpture in the winter.

Design Tip: Place several moon gate arbors three to five feet apart and train plants to climb up each one and fill the gap between them, creating a hallway of plants at the entry to your garden. Train an evergreen rambling plant on them and you’ll have a tunnel of green year round.

Grape Arbors

Grape Arbor: Grape arbors have a flat top originally intended to make them better able to support the fruit and woody vines of grapes. They’re useful even if you don’t want a backyard vineyard, because they can stand up to many varieties of plants that have hefty vines and vigorous growth. Grape arbors are usually made of wood, with beams across the top that resemble top of a pergola.

Best plants for a grape arbor: Grapes, of course. Wisteria, which grows into a whopper of a plant, trumpet vine.

Gabled Arbors

Gabled Arbor: Gabled arbors have steep, pitched tops that resemble the triangular house roofs that kids draw. They’re usually made of wood and are a fixture in English gardens: crisp, angled and proper. Generally you want to let the pointed roofs show through the plants, giving this garden fixture an architectural quality. They’re almost always made of wood.

Best plants for a gabled arbor: Climbing English roses, because you they’re slow-growing enough for you to keep them from covering up the arbor’s roofline. Clematis, hummingbird vine and black-eyed Susan vine will climb skyward.

Design tip: Trim vines so they cover the roof without obscuring its angles.

Arbors with a Bench

Bench Arbor: Not all arbors work as a doorway. Some include a built-in bench so you can place the arbor out in the garden and create a shady nook where you can sit and look at your plants. It’s like a tiny pergola. Bench arbors usually have three sides of grid for plant support, two on the side and one behind the bench, so you get the effect of sitting in a semi-private niche of greenery.

Best plants for a bench arbor: Pick climbers that will make a thick wall of green to screen out the garden beyond. Wisteria and grapes are good choices. English Ivy will wrap your arbor in green quickly. Scented climbers like jasmine, honeysuckle or roses make your bench arbor a sweet-smelling bower.

Design Tip: Place a bench arbor in a corner of your garden with a path winding out to it so that it’s a destination.

Arbor, trellis, pergola, which is the best choice for your garden? See Hardscaping 101: Pergolas for more guidelines (and essential design tips). For more design ideas, see our curated guides to Garden Design 101, including Gates & Fences and Exteriors & Facades. And don’t miss:

• • Architects’ Secrets: 10 Ideas to Create Privacy in the Garden
  • Hardscaping 101: Design Guide for a Facade Facelift
  • 9 Ways to Create Curb Appeal with Flowering Vines and Climbers
  • 10 Easy Pieces: Arched Arbors