Pergola Plants
It is not necessary to plant a pergola with only one plant. But choose varieties with approximately the same development and growth times. So the hedge looks neater, and different types do not interfere with each other. Experienced gardeners do not recommend combining more than 3 types, otherwise they are too difficult to care for. And the pergola itself, over time, runs the risk of becoming overly variegated and sloppy. Fences from varieties with pronounced seasonal changes look interesting. They change completely with the seasons, so be sure to choose species that are adapted to the climate in your region. If it turns out that an unusual variety of vines requires shelter from frost, you will have to urgently decide how to painlessly remove it from the crate. The simplest and most common options are various grapes, including wild, climbing roses, honeysuckle, honeysuckle. All of them are unpretentious, do not require frequent watering, they tolerate heat well and delight with a delicate aroma. Girl grapes, for example, grow quickly, braid the most complex and bizarre supports and feel great in any conditions. And in the fall, it also changes the color of the foliage to a rich crimson, but clematis is much more sensitive to the weather and the neighborhood. And also to cold weather, humidity and drafts.
Variety of forms
The word "pergola" is translated as "shed" or "annex". It is quite obvious what functionality is provided. Pergolas are type-setting structures consisting of repeating sections (pillars, arches, columns) that are interconnected.
However, in modern landscape design, such structures can take on a variety of forms, depending on the goals being performed:
- Awning. This design is also known as a canopy. The main function of this structure is to provide protection for a specific area from the sun. That is why the upper part is significantly compacted. The pergola can serve as an excellent gazebo. It is a great place to meet friends, read books, and eat. Often, such a structure is equipped over a parking lot or a playground. A canopy can be arranged near the house. In this case, the pergola will look more like a veranda. The freestanding design also looks great.
- Screen. This is a great design for zoning a plot. It allows you to create secluded corners. Very often, such structures are installed along the border of the estate. In this case, they protect the property from prying eyes. Pergola-screen is able to disguise outbuildings. In addition, it perfectly separates the recreation area from other areas.
- Tunnel. It is a design with a general directionality. It often resembles an arch. It is usually placed over a path or over a path.
- Visor. Such a canopy is a characteristic detail of the exterior of the southern house. It performs not only a decorative function. The visor, entwined with various climbing plants, covers the southern part of the house from the scorching sun rays. Thanks to this function, the heat load on this side is significantly reduced. This approach is quite common in recent years in energy efficient homes. A pergola installed along the south wall significantly reduces the load on the air conditioner.
If you are wondering how to make a pergola with your own hands, then initially you should determine what material you want to create a structure from. There may be several options. Let's consider the most common ones.
Foundation: needed or not
The most important task that the foundation solves is to ensure the stability of the structure and the distribution of its weight over a large area.When building a pergola, you can choose one of three options: do without a foundation, use a shallow strip foundation, pile or columnar foundation.
Without foundation
This method is applicable for lightweight structures, the main task of which is to support low curly flowers. Since the load on this structure is small, it is possible to ensure sufficient reliability and stability with the help of two vertical supports (pillars) buried in the ground.
Strip foundation
If the plans are to create a capital pergola of a tunnel or awning type, you cannot do without a foundation. Marking is made around the perimeter of the building with the help of pegs and a rope. A trench is being dug. Its depth may vary depending on the type of soil and the topography of the site, but should not exceed 40 cm.
Crushed stone is laid at the bottom of the trench, rammed. Formwork is being built, concrete is poured. Work continues only after it has completely solidified.
Pile (columnar) foundation
The use of piles favorably combines simplicity and reliability. The peculiarity of this method is that, in fact, the foundation is created only at the installation points of the bearing racks, as a rule, there are four or six of them. In those places where the racks will be installed, a recess is made with the help of a drill or a shovel. Crushed stone is laid at its bottom.
Most often, the concrete column does not rise above the soil level, which makes work even easier - no formwork is needed
It is important not to forget to provide for the possibility of subsequent fixation of the rack, for this it is enough to place several threaded rods in the pit, which will be filled with concrete
Step-by-step assembly instructions
First of all, you need to decide how you will fix the support pillars. If your pillars are made of larch, there are no questions, you can just bury them in the ground. With other wood, everything is more complicated: direct contact with the ground is highly undesirable. You can, of course, treat the ends of the pillars buried in the ground with an antibacterial impregnation such as SENEZH or Senezh Ultra, put them into working off for a couple of hours.
The second option is to make a concrete pile with an embedded stud (or several studs, depending on the size and weight of the structure). Attach the rack to the stud with a gap of 5-8 mm.
Another way is if the site is concreted or covered. Then they take metal thrust bearings. Most often they are in the form of an inverted letter "P", fasten it to the surface of the site. Bolt the post through these plates. This type of fastener is suitable for a garden, where the error will be covered by plants. If the construction takes place on an open site, other thrust bearings are used.
Methods of fastening pillars (racks)
After the method of installing the pillars has been chosen, all the wood that will be used in construction is covered with a protective compound - antibacterial and against insects. The formulations should be intended for outdoor use (not for indoor use, but only for outdoor use). After processing, you can start building:
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Site marking. With the help of pegs, laces, a tape measure and a building level, a site of the required size is marked. In its corners, a place for the pillars is marked, they are installed in the chosen way.
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Two main beams are nailed to the exactly exposed posts. To reduce the cost of construction, we use two boards instead, which are attached just below the top - 5-6 cm below. The beams must be fixed strictly horizontally. As already mentioned, you can use nails, screws or bolts.If you connect with self-tapping screws, take white, not black: they are much stronger and can withstand heavy loads.
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The auxiliary beams are now mounted. If possible, make cuts for the main ones: this will make them easier to fasten. Otherwise, you will have to use corners, which in one part will be attached to the lower beam, and the second will hold the transverse one.
- Actually, the installation of jibs remained. They will give the structure more stability.
- To make the shadow thicker at first, even thinner strips can be stuffed on top - 5-7 cm thick.To keep them well, cuts are made 2-3 cm deep under each auxiliary beam.
Installation of crossbars
Everything, the wooden pergola is assembled by hand. You can watch the assembly sequence in the next video.
Making a pergola
According to the dimensions indicated in the drawing, the material is cut into workpieces of the required length. Each detail is processed with a plane, this will give the structure an attractive look and reduce the risk of injury. Next, the assembly begins. A step-by-step instruction for making a pergola with your own hands is as follows.
Step 1: installing the supports
If you choose the option of creating a pergola without a foundation, a stand, each or several of them must be dug into the ground. To do this, with the help of a garden drill, recesses are made in the ground. The depth directly depends on the size of the structure. For example, with a support height of 2.5 m, the depth of the pit should be at least 0.8 m.
The part of the timber that will be in the ground must be additionally processed to protect it from moisture and pests. This can be done with resin, machine oil, or simply wrap the wood with roofing felt. Crushed stone is laid at the bottom of the pit, rammed. Expose the pillar using a level and a plumb line, fix it with temporary struts, and fill it with concrete.
When using the foundation for the installation of vertical posts, it is enough to fix them with metal corners, which are screwed to the studs pre-embedded in the concrete.
Step 2: installing horizontal beams
The upper horizontal beams are made from the same timber as the racks. The easiest way to fix them is with steel corners. A more beautiful and durable connection will be obtained when using carpentry connections, of course, cutouts for them must be made on the racks before installing them.
Step 3: mounting the crossbars
After the installation of the upper horizontal beams, the structure gains sufficient stability, you can put the ladder and install the upper cross members. Structurally, this is a series of parallel slats that create additional support for climbing plants and imitate a roof. The lamellas are fastened with nails.
Step 4: side rails
Next, the "walls" of the pergola are created, thereby reinforcing the structure from the sides. These details are also needed to create support for plants and as a decorative decoration for a building. In the simplest version, these are several parallel strips fixed at certain intervals, if desired, an ornament can be laid out of them.
Step 5: decoration
After the pergola is ready, you need to give it a finished look and protect it from the weather. Wood damaged during assembly is cleaned; sandpaper will do for this. After stripping, the surface of the wood is impregnated with an antiseptic to protect the wood from pests and moisture.
The finishing touch will be painting or varnishing. A wooden pergola impregnated with stain and opened with several layers of varnish looks spectacular. If desired, you can simply paint it in any color you like.
Step 6: choosing plants
A pergola will not be a completely finished structure until plants settle on its walls and roof. What exactly will be planted depends entirely on the wishes of the owner. It can be an ordinary grape or a climbing rose, but you can also look for something more exotic. A variety of plants can be used to create a unique pergola:
- clematis;
- curly roses;
- Kampsis;
- curly honeysuckle;
- girlish grapes.
Potted flowers (bakopa, geranium, petunia) can also be used as an additional decor, which will create a small tropical paradise in your own summer cottage
It is only important not to get carried away by beauty and not to forget that with the arrival of cold weather it is necessary to take heat-loving plants into the house.
Pergola is a great choice for everyone who wants to turn their summer cottage into a truly cozy corner. Its design is not particularly complicated, you can do it yourself, you can buy and install a ready-made one. In any case, a beautiful and functional pergola will attract the eyes and pamper with shade on a hot day.
Pergola Plants
Remember that plants should not weigh down the structure so that it does not wobble and fall. Therefore, choose light plants such as:
clematis - they can grow up to 4 meters in height. This plant has several types, there are two-color and others. The soil on which they will grow must be fertilized, do not forget to maintain the necessary moisture level for the plant to bloom in all weather conditions. Do not overheat the soil, also cover the roots of the flowers so that they do not deteriorate from excessive heat;
Japanese honeysuckle - grows up to 3 meters, has beautiful leaves that do not fall off even in winter, which pleases the eye. The most famous species is the one with yellow veins. The plant must be planted in places that are protected from the wind, otherwise it will die;
Pomeranian honeysuckle - height reaches 5 meters, has many climbing shoots
Pay attention to the brightness of an adult plant. You do not need to cut it off and it will grow for a very long time.
Roof construction
Let's move on to building a web roof. The entire web consists of slats, the side edges of which are trimmed with metal strips. These strips are then attached to the logs with self-tapping screws.
The complexity of the construction of such a "roof" is a very large number of elements. When creating concentric rings, many small planks are required to maintain the correct shape. A hearth is installed in the center of the building and, accordingly, the center of the roof will be just above it. It may seem that the roof will ignite from the heat of the hearth and many may resort to installing a hood and the pergola will look like a stove in the yard. It's too much. There is no draft in the pergola, as in a pipe, as it is constantly blown by the wind from all sides. Accordingly, the hot air flow constantly changes its direction and gradually dissipates, not having time to heat the tree on the roof. The height of the "web" is about 2 m from the source of the flame. But to increase the fire resistance, the wood on the roof must be stained.
Due to the aforementioned draft in the pergola, it is necessary to protect visitors from the heat of the flame in a crosswind. To do this, you can upholster the pergola with a small wooden wall, which will also serve as a backrest for those sitting. It should protrude approximately 100–110 mm from the plane of the bench. That is, it will be slightly higher than the head of a seated person who has a fairly large growth. Before erecting such a wall, it is necessary to fix the transverse beams between the supports - to increase the strength of the wall. Furniture corners are suitable for this. The crossbar must be installed a little higher than the bench, since it is there that the sitting people rest on the wall.For greater aesthetics, the upper part of the wall can be given any decorative shape.