DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.66025#0311
GARDEN ORNAMENT
293
THE PERGOLA
WHILE in the older days of gardening every kind of ornament and
accessory was borrowed from Italy, it seems a strange thing that it
should be only in recent years that we have adopted the pergola, a
feature that has added so greatly to the beauty and interest of our
pleasure grounds. And though its original purpose was the support of vines only,
yet it need not have taken centuries for us to perceive how conveniently it could be
adapted to ssowering plants of climbing habit or to see how its structure could be
suited to every kind and degree of gardening, from the highest expression of architec-
tural refinement, as shown in the work of Mr. Harold Peto in the south of France
as well as at home, to the simplest erection of posts or even poles, in the garden of
an English cottage.
A permanent structure, especially as to the piers, is highly desirable ; whether
they are to be of brick or stone, or, as so often in Italy, and always with good effect,
of rough rubble coarsely plastered, must be decided by the character of the house
and garden and the local material most suitably available. The pairs of piers should
be tied across the path with a stout beam of oak or larch slightly cambered ; the upward
curve, if even quite slight, gives a satisfying look of strength, and is in fact a
source of strength, resisting the pressure of the slighter wood which forms the roof.
It is usual for a pergola to be continuous, but if it is to be for roses it is better that
it should be of a succession of piers and beams only, for in this way the roses have
the benefit of light and air all round. Roses are not so suitable for the all covered
pergola. As to the best plants, grape vines are always beautiful, although ripe fruit
cannot be expected. Aristolochia, Wistaria and Virginia Creeper are excellent, White
Jasmine, and many of the Clematises, both of the species and of the large garden
hybrids. A whole covered way of Laburnum has been made with great success.
In the old days the nearest approach to the idea and purpose of the pergola
was the pleached alley of the Tudor gardens, when young trees of Hornbeam or
Wych-elm were trained over a tunnel-shaped trellis os laths. Such pleached alleys
or covert ways were planted all through Tudor and Stuart days, and examples still
remain of some, as at Drayton and Hampton Court, that were presumably planted
either at the extreme end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century.
TREILLAGE
IT would appear that the elaborate pavilions and arcades of complicated treillage
os the 17th and 18th centuries might be a natural evolution, through many
intervening stages of progress, from the older pleached alleys. But as the later
woodwork became more highly wrought, essential differences came to be apparent.
For in the case of the pleached alley the woodwork was temporary and of secondary
consideration ; it was only strong and enduring enough to serve as a scaffolding on
which the growing trees were to be trained, and might be discarded or suffered to
disappear by natural decay when the growth had covered it and had completed the
form intended. The later treillage had another purpose ; it was carefully designed
as garden architecture, and though it might be partly covered with ssowering plants,
it was not to be smothered, but was always to show, not only its main structure but
the greater part of its detail. In some cases the whole was covered with Ivy, but
eventually such a purpose was entirely lost sight of and the elaborate edifice, with
its arches and pinnacles, domes and pediments was considered so sacred that no
planting might invade it. Happily we have now returned to a saner and more
moderate use of treillage, and the illustrations show some recent work designed by
Mr. Peto, where the finely designed wooden structure and the nobler of the ssowering
plants appear in their just relation, and form a satisfying and properly balanced
complement one to the other.
The system of cordon and espalier fruit trees might well be adapted to some form
of treillage a little better than the usual post and wire. Where ssower borders pass
through a large kitchen garden, such a treillage would be an excellent background
to the ssowering plants. It has been done with success at Orchards in Surrey, and
the good example should be sollowed and further developed.
293
THE PERGOLA
WHILE in the older days of gardening every kind of ornament and
accessory was borrowed from Italy, it seems a strange thing that it
should be only in recent years that we have adopted the pergola, a
feature that has added so greatly to the beauty and interest of our
pleasure grounds. And though its original purpose was the support of vines only,
yet it need not have taken centuries for us to perceive how conveniently it could be
adapted to ssowering plants of climbing habit or to see how its structure could be
suited to every kind and degree of gardening, from the highest expression of architec-
tural refinement, as shown in the work of Mr. Harold Peto in the south of France
as well as at home, to the simplest erection of posts or even poles, in the garden of
an English cottage.
A permanent structure, especially as to the piers, is highly desirable ; whether
they are to be of brick or stone, or, as so often in Italy, and always with good effect,
of rough rubble coarsely plastered, must be decided by the character of the house
and garden and the local material most suitably available. The pairs of piers should
be tied across the path with a stout beam of oak or larch slightly cambered ; the upward
curve, if even quite slight, gives a satisfying look of strength, and is in fact a
source of strength, resisting the pressure of the slighter wood which forms the roof.
It is usual for a pergola to be continuous, but if it is to be for roses it is better that
it should be of a succession of piers and beams only, for in this way the roses have
the benefit of light and air all round. Roses are not so suitable for the all covered
pergola. As to the best plants, grape vines are always beautiful, although ripe fruit
cannot be expected. Aristolochia, Wistaria and Virginia Creeper are excellent, White
Jasmine, and many of the Clematises, both of the species and of the large garden
hybrids. A whole covered way of Laburnum has been made with great success.
In the old days the nearest approach to the idea and purpose of the pergola
was the pleached alley of the Tudor gardens, when young trees of Hornbeam or
Wych-elm were trained over a tunnel-shaped trellis os laths. Such pleached alleys
or covert ways were planted all through Tudor and Stuart days, and examples still
remain of some, as at Drayton and Hampton Court, that were presumably planted
either at the extreme end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century.
TREILLAGE
IT would appear that the elaborate pavilions and arcades of complicated treillage
os the 17th and 18th centuries might be a natural evolution, through many
intervening stages of progress, from the older pleached alleys. But as the later
woodwork became more highly wrought, essential differences came to be apparent.
For in the case of the pleached alley the woodwork was temporary and of secondary
consideration ; it was only strong and enduring enough to serve as a scaffolding on
which the growing trees were to be trained, and might be discarded or suffered to
disappear by natural decay when the growth had covered it and had completed the
form intended. The later treillage had another purpose ; it was carefully designed
as garden architecture, and though it might be partly covered with ssowering plants,
it was not to be smothered, but was always to show, not only its main structure but
the greater part of its detail. In some cases the whole was covered with Ivy, but
eventually such a purpose was entirely lost sight of and the elaborate edifice, with
its arches and pinnacles, domes and pediments was considered so sacred that no
planting might invade it. Happily we have now returned to a saner and more
moderate use of treillage, and the illustrations show some recent work designed by
Mr. Peto, where the finely designed wooden structure and the nobler of the ssowering
plants appear in their just relation, and form a satisfying and properly balanced
complement one to the other.
The system of cordon and espalier fruit trees might well be adapted to some form
of treillage a little better than the usual post and wire. Where ssower borders pass
through a large kitchen garden, such a treillage would be an excellent background
to the ssowering plants. It has been done with success at Orchards in Surrey, and
the good example should be sollowed and further developed.