New trends and products are becoming more intriguing to costumers in the landscape architecture world today. The question out there comes when deciding what landscape features to use. Many people don’t know the difference between different types of landscape structures. Landscape structures have different purposes so here’s some pointers to help understand their differences.
Pergolas: Have posts supporting an open, roof-like structure. They are most commonly used to shade a walkway or a deck. Today, a pergola is mainly used as a landscaping structure consisting of four columns or posts to define a space, topped with beams and open rafters. Now more than ever, pergolas are covered with a retractable canopy for better protection from the sun and rain. When pergolas are covered with vines or foliage some call them a trellis.
Trellis: It can be as simple as a panel attached to the side of a building, or it can be freestanding in a garden or yard. An arbor usually incorporates a trellis into its structure, creating a tunnel-like passageway of climbing plants. A trellis is another architectural element usually made from a tighter weave of open framework or intersecting pieces called lattice. The trellis can be used horizontally to shade spaces or vertically to divide them. Most trellis structures are covered with vines, or flowers because the trellis helps support the vines and flowering foliage to grow longer, higher, and fuller. A trellis will allow sunlight to always penetrate, and they don’t offer any protection from the rain.
Arbors: An arbor is typically an open structure much smaller than a trellis or pergola, using interwoven lattice pieces and sometimes having an arched top. Arbors usually define a point of entry or the division of two places along a path.
If you have any questions and dont know the right one to choose from, please contact us at info@opidesign.net for a free consultation.