Stone Garden Arches Design

If your garden is looking plain and bland, a garden arch might be just what you are looking for to spruce it up a little bit. But what plants can you grow around it? Perennial plants are a great choice. Evergreen plants keep their leaves all year round so the arch is always covered. Deciduous plants will loose their leaves over the winter but will re-grow them again during the spring. Each of these plants may give new flowers of fruit every growing season.

Garden arches should not be limited to only the garden entry, they are also great at a midway point to offer a shaded sanctuary in the middle of the garden. If you install the arch with benches, you will have a perfect place to sit and rest or enjoy your morning coffee.

If you install a garden arch while your children are young, and add the correct plants, it may be the perfect backdrop for a garden wedding after they get older.

Garden arches may be made of several materials. Metal arches are to be preferred over the wooden ones, however. After the vine plant grow over the boards of a garden arch the wood could not be re-painted so it will be exposed to the elements and rot quickly. Once decay begins to set in the arch may no longer be secure enough to support the plants.

If you choose a metal arch, be sure that it is resistant to rust in order to have a long lasting arch for many years.

Runners from your plants will need to be trained back into the structure of the arch. You may need to do some trimming of the plants to keep the arch in good shape.

It is sometimes said that every garden should have an archway. However, whilst this may not be strictly true, it's certainly true that garden arches can have a part to play in many designs. Garden arches come in many shapes, sizes, designs and materials and so consequently they can also have many different uses within a garden.

Uses of Garden Arches Within a Garden Design

One of the most common uses of arches within a garden is as an entrance. This can be an entrance to the garden itself, or often arches can be utilized to create entrances between different areas of a garden. Using the arches a doorways between outdoor rooms creates a sense of progressive realization and a sense of journey within the garden. On a similar theme, they can create a sense of intrigue to a garden visitor. Arches act as a draw to people, drawing people towards the arch to see what lies beyond.

Garden arches provide a vertical element within a garden design, providing a point of differentiation if most aspects of the design are in the horizontal plane. What is more, they provide instant height within a garden. Although planting can ultimately provide height, unless mature (and therefore costly) plants are introduced into a new garden, it will be a number of years before those plants can provide the height that an arch can provide.

When placed appropriately, garden arches can be used to frame a view within the garden - for example framing a focal point such as a statue or water feature. Similarly, garden arches can be used to frame a distant view or vista.

Considerations When Introducing an Arch to the Garden

As well as being practical, useful and attractive within a garden, arches are also one of the easiest features to erect. However, although they may be easy to erect, some consideration does need to be given to the type, style and size of arch to be used - the wrong arch in the wrong place can negatively impact upon the balance of the whole garden design. So what are the main design considerations?

1. Scale / Size

The scale and size of the arch must be in keeping with the garden and surroundings. For example, a huge, gold plated, highly ornate arch would be totally out of place in a modest suburban back garden, whilst conversely a 1m wide wooden garden arch would be lost and insignificant within the vast grounds of a stately home.