PERGOLAS 31 



CHAPTER V 

 CONSTRUCTION OF PERGOLAS 



A PERGOLA has come to be looked upon as a necessary 

 feature in a good class garden. As a support for climbing 

 plants it has many advantages, and for that reason its 

 usefulness must be considered in a book about climbers. 

 At the same time one cannot overlook the fact that in 

 some gardens the pergola is an eyesore, and that some 

 pergolas which one sees would be an eyesore anywhere. 

 Italy, where the pergola, a kind of balcony or arbour, had 

 its origin, is a land of sunshine, where coolness and shade 

 are desirable for the greater portion of the year. There is 

 much less need for them in the gardens of these islands, 

 where a balcony against the house, a well-placed summer- 

 house, a group of trees with spreading branches, or even 

 one of the spreading chestnut tree pattern afford shade 

 and shelter, and are more appropriate. 



But we have adapted the pergola to another purpose, 

 namely, as a more or less ornamental feature in itself, 

 climbing plants being trained over it as a kind of excuse 

 for its being there. In this respect the pergola is no 

 worse than the great majority of other structures that are 

 allowed in the garden. Some, such as the greenhouse 

 and the shelter or summer-house, are tolerable because 

 they have a definite use. But many gardens are spoilt 

 by silly attempts to add variety by the introduction of 

 what are supposed to be works of art in the shape of 

 temples, statues, well-heads, sundials, elaborately designed 



