When designing a garden there can be many elements to include, from a space to eat or relax, a lawn to walk barefoot or play games and a pond for wildlife.
One structure we find we’re using more are pergolas. In the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in their popularity. For us they help to add instant height to a garden and provide a frame for climbing plants. They help to define a space, usually with a patio beneath, as an area for dining or relaxing. Whether you choose plants or perhaps more commonly found on the continent an awning or a louvred roof, a pergola will give shade from the sun but with a roof it could also protect you from a light shower. Bamboo matting or similar could also be used in tandem with plants to give denser shade.
Traditional timber pergola
Materials for pergolas
Wood or metal tend to be the two most widely used materials. There are practical and aesthetic advantages and disadvantages to both.
Both oak and metal pergolas in the same garden
Wood
Typically a hard wood will last longer, oak is a great wood to use, silvering over time. Whatever wood is used it will probably be fairly chunky in appearance, for me part of its attraction.
Itt could also be stained, generally this gives a muted tone rather than a very solid colour and of course the colour will fade over time and need reapplying. We would say that if you want to cover a pergola with plants it’s easier to avoid staining it as it can be awkward to apply more stain with plants in place. Besides the colour of weathered timber is beautiful in its own right.
Wood also enables you to add wires for climbing plants or cables for outdoor lights more easily. We would generally use tensioned wires or metal bars for plants to scramble on. We recently completed a pergola with bars across the top and the upper part of the posts with tensioned wires lower down. This was for a more solid look and therefore a greater sense of privacy which was important to our client.
Oak pergola with jointed corners
Timber pergola with metal bars
Oak pergola with jointed corners
Oak pergola over a seating area
Metal
This would typically be powder coated tube aluminium available in square or round profiles. Being powder coated virtually any colour can be used and it will generally be very durable.
Consider what will be needed to fix wires or cables to the pergola. If outdoor pendant lights are to be used you could add holes through which the cables will feed.
For wires for climbing plants generally adding D rings at the top and bottom of each post is sufficient although you might want to add more to have horizontal lines.
Black metal pergola extending across the rear of the house made of interconnecting squares
Circular metal pergola
Black metal pergola extending around the side of the house with wires attached to the sleepers
Circular metal pergola with D rings for the wires
Fixing a pergola
A metal pergola will generally have an integral shoe and be screwed onto the hard landscaping. If it’s into a lawn or planting bed it will be concreted into the ground.
Timber pergolas can be either concreted into the ground or have a metal shoe. The shoe will be screwed to the ground but it could be level with the floor or alternatively the show is on a pin which in itself has a plate fixing it to the floor. Having a pin style shoe can reduce some of the chunky look of a wooden pergola but it is an aesthetic decision.
With both metal and timber pergolas you have to consider the span of the beams so they don’t bow; metal is generally lighter and can have longer spans.
Both can be freestanding or attached to a building.
Metal pergola attached to the ground before the paving is laid
Metal shoe for a timber pergola screwed to the surface of the tiles
Form
Typically one thinks of a pergola as being rectilinear but a hexagonal shape can work well. If using metal a more organic shape can be formed, such as a circle. The shape will generally depend on what’s beneath and if it’s going to be attached to a building or freestanding.
The design of the beams where it meets the posts can be different for example with the beams overhanging or notched to create a perfect 900 angle. This is generally personal preference and will depend upon the look you want to achieve and the style of house and garden where the pergola is going.
