When it comes to enhancing the landscape design of their property the thoughts of most homeowners drift toward retaining walls, water features or maybe interlocking pavers for the walkways and driveway. Those are all worthy enhancements to be sure but there’s another one that often gets overlooked even though it’s affordable, relatively easy to do and won’t require any physical changes to what’s underfoot: a pergola.
8 Reasons You Should Add a Pergola to Your Yard
Pergolas are simple but they can affect the experience of your yard in profound ways. Below are 8 reasons why you should add a pergola to your yard.
The Case for the Pergola
As you might imagine pergolas are of Mediterranean origin with the word derived from the late Latin word “pergula”, which is a type of projecting eave. Today, the pergola is prized by landscape architects and designers for its ability to be a kind of blank slate with myriad potential uses, configurations and aesthetic possibilities. Here are 8 great reasons to raise a pergola in your yard.
It Creates a Focal Point
Most yards, even those with meticulously considered flora, lack clearly defined spaces or focal points. A pergola can transform what was once an anonymous patio you had to be standing in front of to see into a focal point that draws attention from every corner of the yard. It creates a place to go, a point of reference and a kind of transitional space between indoors and outdoors that makes the house seem larger as well.
It Creates Myriad Opportunities for Plants
A pergola is a kind of magnet for plant life. Few other landscape features can equal the visual and emotional impact of a pergola alive with morning glory or awash in wisteria on a summer morning. The pergola is also the perfect vehicle for hanging plants and large potted plants.
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It Creates Shelter
A pergola covered with vining roses, clematis or good old-fashioned ivy creates the natural cover that doesn’t seem nearly as intrusive as a solid roof. Should you want to keep the pergola free of vining plants, however, you can install a retractable canopy that will serve the same shade generating function at those times you really need it.
It Provides Privacy
If before your patio life took place in full view of the neighbours a pergola can provide much-appreciated privacy and do so in a tasteful, non-aggressive way. Add latticework to the side that is most exposed and let the vining plants do their thing.
It Can Serve as a Gateway
If you have an in-ground pool in the yard that is currently just kind of ‘there’ a pergola installed over the path leading to the pool can create an evocative gateway to the pool area. Likewise, a pergola between an outdoor kitchen and the pool can serve as a transitional element that joins the two together while enhancing their distinct identities.
It Gives the Pool Area a Regal Air
Speaking of pergolas and pools. Placing a pergola poolside will create the air of a Roman villa. It’s a landscape feature that elevates everything around it and it has the additional benefit of creating much-needed shade for swimmers who have been baking in the sun.
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It Can Be as Simple or as Fancy as You Want
The design of your pergola can be tailored to match the rest of your house whether that house is aggressively modern or whimsically Victorian. Your columns can be Doric, Ionic or Corinthian or they can be unadorned 8″ x 8″ squares. It’s entirely up to you.
It Adds Value
The right landscaping can add as much as 20% to the value of your home and a pergola can be the centrepiece of your landscape design. It’s one of the easiest, most affordable ways available to provide a bump to your home’s value while at the same time enhancing your quality of life.
A pergola is the landscape gift that keeps on giving in more ways than we have space to list here. It’s beautiful, functional, affordable, practical, versatile and, well, you get the picture. To learn more about what a pergola can do for your property talk to your landscaping professional today.
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